By Nic Rigby BBC News Online

The Norfolk Fire control room could be moved to Cambridge

Government proposals which could do away with county fire services and bring in regional control rooms have started a heated debate.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott believes there are too many small fire authorities and in future there should be greater co-ordination.

He believes regional control rooms could improve efficiency and save money.

The plans could see an East of England control room in Cambridge directing operations in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

I think counties have out-lived their usefulness Brian White, MP for Milton Keynes North East

An East Midlands control room in Nottingham could serve Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.

Brian White, Labour MP for Milton Keynes North East, believes that regional fire services are long overdue.

"I think counties have out-lived their usefulness," he said.

'Local knowledge lost'

"A regional fire service would recognise localities far better than the artificial county structures."

But Tom Murray, chairman of the Northamptonshire branch of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is concerned about the idea of a regional control room.

"The local knowledge would be lost. A local person in the control room knows exactly where the fire is," he said.

"If you have a regional fire control room you will have people who know nothing about the area."

The government proposals follow the fire strike

He said plans to merge Leicestershire and Northamptonshire fire services about three years ago were defeated by opposition from the fire service unions and local people.

David Ruffley, Conservative MP for Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, also opposes a regional fire service.

"I am completely opposed to putting our local fire service in Suffolk into a regional service," he said.

"A big regional headquarter will remove the responsiveness to local people. It will undermine the service.

Fear of slower service

"I really do not know how the service that they provide so well in Suffolk can be improved by having a headquarters far away in Peterborough or Cambridge."

Liberal Democrat MP for Colchester, Bob Russell, said: "I have seen no evidence that tells me that by Essex Fire Service becoming part of a greater East of England service it would be to the greater benefit of the service.

"Sometimes this government gives the impression that it wants to change things whether it's a improvement or not."

Mick Syme, secretary of the Bedfordshire Fire Brigades Union, said he was concerned that regional control rooms could lead to job cuts.

He added that the lack of local knowledge would "without a shadow of a doubt lead to a slower service".