THE region is still not properly prepared for a major catastrophe, despite a £330m nationwide programme to transform fire services, a watchdog warned today.

The New Dimensions programme – to cope with threats ranging from terror attacks to floods – has failed to provide adequate planning for “regional and national-scale incidents”, the National Audit Office (NAO) concluded.

Its report warns that many fire and rescue services do not carry out sufficient emergency planning drills because they were “too expensive and time-consuming”.

And only three of 37 services surveyed had followed guidelines by ensuring their activities and resources were matched with “major emergency risks”. The three were not identified.

Just one service was satisfied with training, many warning that specially-trained firefighters had since been shifted to other activities, which meant their skill levels had probably dropped. New Dimensions is closely connected to the controversial closure of 46 fire and rescue centres across England in favour of just nine regional command centres.

The shake-up will close Merseyside’s fire control centre, in Bootle, in favour of a control room at Warrington, to open next year on Lingley Mere business park, Great Sankey.

Some of the 58 staff at Bootle, and the 27 at the Cheshire control room at Winsford, will lose their jobs, as overall staff numbers across the North West fall from 212 to around 110.

Edward Leigh, the Conservative chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said that the report had exposed “major worries” about the programme.

He added: “There is confusion about local commanders’ responsibilities, emergency plans leave a lot to be desired, and the department doesn’t even know where capability gaps remain.”

But Sadiq Khan, the fire minister, said the report showed that “capacity to respond to major emergencies has been much enhanced as a result of investment by the government”.