£3m for 999 centres sell-off

Ambulance service bosses could make nearly £3 million if they go ahead with proposals to close some emergency control centres in the West Midlands.

There are currently five call centres – at Millennium Point, Brierley Hill; Stone Road, Stafford; Dale Street, Leamington Spa; Bransford, near Worcester; and Abbey Foregate in Shrewsbury.

But under plans put forward it is proposed that the only the Millennium Point and Dale Street centres – plus a new regional nerve centre at Tollgate business park in Stafford – will continue to operate.

Figures for the scheme show that West Midlands Ambulance Service could bring in £2.9m generated from site sales and make an additional £500,000 a year savings.

But they would have to shell out an initial £2.5m to put the changes into effect.

A consultation document on the scheme reveals estimates show it could cost a total of £800,000 to develop the Tollgate site and carry out upgrades to Brierley Hill and Leamington, as well as just over a million to introduce a dispatch service. And more than £500,000 could be shelled out on IT systems. 

The service could make £1.8m from the sale of the Stafford site as well as a further £650,000 from that of Bransford and £500,00 from a partial sale of Shrewsbury. 

A decision on whether the scheme will go ahead was expected next month but ambulance service bosses want more time to go through the proposals and will instead announce their decision in November.