Front-line firefighters in Yorkshire and the Humber have called on the Government to abandon its scheme to build a new regional fire control centre.

The Fire Brigades' Union said its members believed the money earmarked for the centre would be better spent on more staff, training and equipment.

The union has consistently opposed the plan to replace emergency fire control rooms covering West Yorkshire at Birkenshaw, Humberside, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire with a single centre based at Wakefield.

The union said the Yorkshire regional control was set to be fully operational by May 2011. The cost of the rent will be £33 million over 20 years, it added.

Nearly all (97%) of union members polled in a survey in the region said the control centre plan should not go ahead.

FBU regional secretary Sean Cahill said: "Yorkshire and Humberside fire crews have almost no confidence in the Government's ability to deliver this new system and think it should be scrapped.

"This project is being forced down the throat of local fire services by a central government which thinks it knows what's best for local services.

"We see the mess Government is making of other major IT projects like tax credits and the NHS system and we don't want to see that happening in the fire service. These plans are already chaotic, years behind schedule and running over-budget."

A spokesman for the Communities and Local Government Department said the project was aimed at creating a more resilient fire service.

"In today's world of industrial accidents, terrorist attacks and large-scale natural disasters we need to build resilience at national, regional and local levels. Given these threats, doing nothing is not an option."