The Government must provide assurances that lives will not be put at risk and public safety compromised under plans to move all 999 calls from Bradford to Wakefield, a damning report says today.

The Commons Communities and Local Government committee said plans to merge the current 46 fire stations into nine regional control centres are inadequately planned, poorly executed and badly managed.

Under the FireControl project, first developed in 2004, Birkenshaw, Bradford, Humberside, North Yorkshire and South Yorkshire bases will close and all calls will go through a new super-centre in Wakefield.

The widely unpopular move had been due to take place in October, 2011 but “technical problems with developing the IT system” means that will not now happen until July, 2012.

Committee chairman Dr Phyllis Starkey said: “The original aims and expected benefits of this scheme were, in our view, sound. But the department has clearly not learned from its previous mistakes. FireControl is yet another catalogue of further poor judgement and mismanagement.”

The MPs want the Government to bring forward the end date for all nine centres to mid 2011 – ahead of the scheduled opening for the new North West centre. They say the Government must provide assurances the safety and security of the Olympic Games, and training centres across the country, will not be compromised during the roll-out of the centres.

It says: “Escalating costs and severe delays look set to leave Fire and Rescue Authorities managing their migration to a new system at the time they should be preparing for the high-profile safety concerns presented by the Olympic Games in 2012.”

The MPs also demand that the Government draws up and consults on contingency plans for any further failures in the FireControl programme “to ensure ongoing safe and effective fire and rescue services cover across the whole country whether or not the regional control centres are eventually delivered.”

Given the costs already committed the scheme should still go ahead, says the committee, but ministers must up their game and instill confidence in all involved that the new centres will be beneficial.

Many Fire and Rescue Authorities have “profound reservations about whether the new regional system will deliver a more efficient, safer service”, it adds.

Ministers insist that everyone will benefit under the new nationally-linked regional network, with better protection for the public, and making the difficult job of firefighters more safe and effective, with access to hi-tech equipment.

Fire Minister Shahid Malik said: “The Government agrees with the Select Committee that the FireControl project should continue with renewed vigour. We accept that there have been problems in delivering the FireControl project. However, through the changes we have already made – many reflected in the Committee’s recommendations – I believe the project is in a better position than ever before.

“The benefits it will deliver, especially a level of inter-operability between fire and rescue services we do not have at present, outweigh the challenges.”