MULTI-MILLION pound plans for a single fire control centre for the whole of the South West are on the brink of collapse, with fire chiefs in the region warning they will not move to it if public safety is put at risk.

The taxpayer is shelling out almost £155,000 a month to keep the building in Taunton standing empty, amid growing doubts that it will ever open.

Fire authorities in the region warn they will not make the switch if they are forced to pick up the bill for huge over-runs. By the time it opens, it will have cost £4.5 million.

The threat of job losses is already battering morale and leading to a rise in staff sickness as workers fear for their future. Problems have already arisen in recruiting and retaining staff.

Ministers admitted that part of the problem with the much-delayed scheme was that fire and rescue services were not included in drawing up the "concept".

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Westcountry fire chiefs claim much of the technology is "becoming obsolete before it has been installed" and have questioned if there are any "real and meaningful guarantees" that there will be no further delays.

Devon and Somerset Fire Service had been due to move to the new centre in July this year but will not make the switch until May 2011. And Cornwall, originally expected to move over in June, will wait until January 2012.

Emergency calls from the whole of the South West region – from Cornwall to Gloucestershire – should eventually be answered from the single call centre, raising fears that a lack of local knowledge could put safety at risk.

Now every fire authority in the region has warned they will not "be prepared to sign up until binding commitments have been received for the financing of the balance of the regional costs throughout the lifetime of the fire control service".

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Authority (FRA) is "yet to be convinced that the move to a regional centre is in the best interests of the communities of Cornwall".

There are no assurances that the new computer systems are "up to the job" while fire authorities are "in the dark on issues which are of fundamental importance".

While many fire authorities are expected to be better off as a result of regionalistaion, some in the Westcountry will require additional "resilience" payments of tens of thousands of pounds every year.

The Government has promised to cover those costs for three years, but it is not clear where the money will come from beyond that. In evidence to MPs, Cornwall FRA added: "There are still concerns that clarity on the financial detail, and ongoing financial commitment post-cutover, is needed before the FRA can make any informed decision on whether the service will migrate to fire control."

Devon and Somerset Fire Authority said in its corporate plan for the next three years that it was "continuing preparations" for the move into the regional control centre, including to "ensure that the needs of the public will be met".

"Although this will bring some considerable investment in technology, we are mindful of the impact that this change will have on our staff and will do all that we can to minimise the understandable anxiety that this change presents," it added.

Coun Bernard Hughes, chairman of the authority, said he thought the project could go ahead but only if additional costs were not imposed on council taxpayers at a time of public spending cuts.

And Dorset Fire Authority said it "will not agree to move its operations into the regional control centre, either in principle or in practice, until it is satisfied that both operational and financial requirements have been met". The Fire Officers' Association warned of "feelings of bitterness or resentment over the way that they or their colleagues been treated".

Ministers are now being urged to draw up a "plan B" if talks collapse and Westcountry fire chiefs refuse to relocate. The Conservatives have said there is "a growing case for this whole project to be shelved".

Coun Brian Coleman, of the Local Government Association, said council chiefs had been "broadly supportive" but had "now moved to a position of hostility and against the project in principle". He said fire authorities "have come to the view that the project has been delayed for too long and they have serious doubts whether it is ever going to work".

However, John Bonney, president of the Chief Fire Officers Association, said talk of abandoning regionalisation was dangerous. He added: "To blithely say 'Scrap the project' will leave a number of fire rescue services high and dry."

Fire minister Shahid Malik admitted the project had been "contentious for a whole host of reasons" and it "did not start off too well" but the Government remained "absolutely committed" to the concept.

However, one of the problems was the fire and rescue service was not "engaged" in developing the concept. "The truth is that once we started to engage with fire and rescue services, it then became apparent their needs had not been catered for in a 100 per cent fashion.

"We can see the national resilience that it will bring and deliver. We know that will benefit both firefighters and indeed the wider community as well."