A controversial £23 million fire control centre in the West Midlands is “unnecessary” and less advanced than one of those it is meant to be replacing, the head of the region’s fire authority has claimed.

Councillor Tony Ward, chairman of West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority, said the regional control centre, that is not yet taking emergency calls despite being built three years ago, was a “bad idea” and not needed. It will bring together services from five counties.

The centre, at Wolverhampton Business Park off Stafford Road, is set to join West Midlands, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Hereford & Worcester and Warwickshire.

It is costing £1.7 million a-year in rent, maintenance and security, despite currently only being used for meetings and training.

Contractor Intergraph, which recently replaced Ericsson, has delayed the opening again until summer 2011 because of ongoing issues with the computer systems, Councillor Ward said.

The project is part of a £423m scheme to replace 46 existing fire control rooms in England with nine regional control centres and was set up by the government under former deputy prime minister John Prescott.

WMFS opened its new £20m headquarters in Nechells last January and spent £517,000 upgrading the computer system.

The Wolverhampton centre is expected to handle more than 100,000 emergency telephone calls each year and create 130 jobs.

But Councillor Ward, who represents West Bromwich, said: “It is my personal opinion that this centre is overkill.

“It’s five or six times bigger than the control room we have at West Midlands Fire Service.

“The one we have is also more technologically advanced. We had to go ahead and replace the control room equipment because it was so outdated and there was no sign of the RCC being finished.

“West Midlands Fire Service could now handle the calls for  the other services in the region.

“We have to do something with the RCC now, even if we use the West Midlands control room instead.

” It’s had too much spent on it. It’s become like The Public in West Bromwich.”

By Daniel Wainwright