Union members are lobbying a regional management meeting

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has said national plans for regional centres will bring job cuts and endanger lives.

But the government says it will replace old technology and increase efficiency.

Control rooms in Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, the Isle of Wight and Oxfordshire would close under the plans.

The Regional Management Board Meeting at Surrey Fire and Rescue Service headquarters on Wednesday will be attended by local councillors and chief fire officers.

Plans defended

Mark Simmons, FBU regional official, said on Monday that the plan would be "an expensive failure" which would "push up council tax and lead to cuts in frontline fire services".

He added: "With the fire service, there is no room for error."

The union has said the national project will see all 46 fire control centres in England replaced by nine regional centres.

In January, fire service minister Nick Raynsford said: "Existing control rooms do a good job, but they are not designed to deal, in a co-ordinated fashion, with major regional or national incidents.

"They operate with a wide range of procedures, technologies and systems - many of which have suffered from an historic lack of investment."

Mr Raynsford also said that the average cost of responding to an incident would be cut from �76 to �52, under the new proposals.