Firefighters in West Yorkshire are being threatened with further funding cuts unless a use is found for the mothballed 999 supercentre.

Fire Minister Bob Neill has started a consultation on the future of the service in the wake of abandoned plans to regionalise 999 centres, which were ditched before Christmas.

Under the plans, all emergency fire calls from Bradford and across Yorkshire would have been routed through a super-centre in Wakefield rather than the existing control room at the West Yorkshire brigade’s headquarters in Birkenshaw.

The Government has said it is tied into a lease of up to 25 years and warned this would result in less cash for fire authorities unless they used the building or an alternative tenant could be found.

The document states: “Now that the project has been cancelled, the department must continue to underwrite the cost of the control centre leases.

“This will reduce the overall amount of funding that will be available for fire and rescue authorities to improve their control services unless these buildings become part of the authorities’ plans or other users can be found.”

The Government has indicated it would pay towards the cost of the rent, if brigades moved in.

The West Yorkshire Fire Brigade Union repeatedly spoke out against plans to regionalise the fire service.

Secretary Mark Wilson said: “We do not want to take on something which would be a financial burden. We believe the cost to West Yorkshire would be £400,000 for the lease, which is too much.

“We have well-functioning centres across West Yorkshire and so we would not want to commit ourselves to something because of legacy of what has gone before us.”

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