Local fire and rescue services to see upgrade to Firelink network

Government to upgrade access following the collapse of FiReControl

The government is to upgrade the access that local fire and rescue service control rooms have to the Firelink digital radio network, following the cancellation of Labour's FiReControl project.

The decision was announced in a consultation paper on how to cope in the wake of the decision to axe FiReControl, which had seen costs soar from an original £100m to £425m.

The new government decided with supplier Cassidian that the project could not be delivered to an acceptable timeframe, with the government unwilling to increase funding.

The scale of any compensation has been kept secret to preserve commercial confidentiality - a decision certain to be challenged by MPs.

The paper, rushed out by the Department for Communities and Local Government, detailed the consequences of the collapse, including the fact that eight of nine partly equipped regional centres with leases of up to 25 years are now redundant.

Only one, in Merton, is to be taken over by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

In the paper the department urges local fire brigades, many of whom were opposed to the project from the start, to limit the damage caused by the fiasco by taking over some of the centres along with neighbouring authorities.

The paper makes it clear that future priorities start with completing the installation of Firelink, funding restructure costs to support shared services, funding technical improvements to improve resilience and funding control room infrastructure costs arising from delays to FiReControl.

Local Government Minister Bob Neill said his government believes the fire and rescue community itself is best placed to decide what should be done and pledged: "No solution will be imposed."

But he encouraged the sector to make best use of legacy assets.