AN overwhelming number of firefighters believe regional control centres, one of which is due to be built in Hampshire, will prove disastrous for the service.

A YouGov poll of almost 2,000 firefighters from around the UK showed that 96 per cent of those quizzed were against the plans for new regional control centres, which the Government wants up and running by September 2011.

In the south the figures were even higher with 97 per cent of 233 firefighters quizzed being against the £1 billion plans, which would see the UK's 48 fire control centres, where 999 calls first arrive, replaced by eight super control centres.

One of these centres has been earmarked for Fareham. As well as controlling Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, it would also control services in Buckinghamshire, Kent, Surrey, Sussex, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

However in a nationwide poll of members of the Fire Brigades' Union, 95 per cent of firefighters said they believe the changes would damage the service and that the money would be better spent on more frontline personnel.

Ninety per cent of those quizzed also said they felt the move would leave firefighters exposed to more risks, with 96 per cent saying they felt the project should be scrapped.

Almost none of those questioned had faith that the Government's new system would actually work.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: "Fire crews have almost no confidence in the Government's ability to deliver this new system and think it should be scrapped.

"This project is being forced down the throat of local fire services by a central government which thinks it knows what's best for local services.

"We see the mess Government is making of other major IT projects like tax credits and the NHS system and we don't want to see that happening in the fire service."

However, a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government insisted the plans would allow for quicker response times and would mean more money could be invested in personnel.