MERSEYSIDE Fire Authority has dumped plans for a shared north west control room – in favour of a joint local 999 control with police and ambulance instead.

Following the collapse last year of a plan for regional fire controls – at a cost of almost £500m – the government was left with a high tech control room in Warrington with no tenants.

A “Plan B” dreamed up between five north west fire services proposed moving into the mothballed control centre at Lingley Mere, Great Sankey, with the Government offering £36.7m of subsidies to sweeten the deal

Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria and Merseyside Fire Services would then use it to manage their 999 services centrally, saving money and shedding jobs.

The first four authorities had already voted to go ahead with the plan but yesterday Merseyside Fire Authority threw a spanner in the works by going a third way at the last minute.

A letter sent by Merseyside’s Chief Constable Jon Murphy to the new Chief Fire Officer Dan Stephens appears to be have been the catalyst.

In it he referenced fire and police working together during August’s riots.

He said: “I was very impressed to observe how our teams worked together to tackle the many issues with which we were faced, minimising disruption and restoring normality to our streets as soon as possible.”

He went on to suggest “exploring options” for call handling, dispatch and incident command.