THE CONTROVERSIAL £13m regional fire control centre for the south west, which has stood empty for three years, could now never become operational.

Part of the coalition’s Programme for Government policy document said it would “put an end to the forced regionalisation of fire brigades”.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the Government should now honour its pledges and scrap the Taunton centre, which would cover Swindon and Wiltshire and mean that 999 calls from the town would be handled outside the county.

Swindon firefighter Paul Lawler, who is also the Wiltshire brigade secretary for the FBU, has said the project was doomed to fail and would only cause more problems.

He said: “This has become the big white elephant in the room. Every time something is fixed there, it is followed by two more problems. Everyone is against this – firefighters, the union, members of the public and the Fire Authority.

“At the moment the people in Wiltshire benefit from the control centre in Devizes which has police, fire and ambulance under one roof – once the centre miles away in Taunton opens, that will close.

“People will lose their jobs and there are likely to be delays in sending out fire response units because of the smaller number of people answering 999 calls and having no local knowledge – such as local nicknames for places.

“The service will be completely overstretched and it is frustrating because no-one wants this and it won’t work.”

The building is costing the taxpayer an estimated £5,000 a day.

But centre boss Mark Healey believes the project will still go ahead.

He said: “Let’s set the money aside that has been spent on this superb 21st Century building. Yes I’d like to see it go ahead.”