Mark Harper MP - for the Forest of Dean

Harper: cancel fire control project as delays and costs mount

15 July 2009

Mark Harper, MP for the Forest of Dean, has called on the Government to cancel their fire control project as yet another ten month delay is announced by the Fire Service Minister, Shahid Malik MP.

Based on the most recent figures given in Parliament the cost of the new fire control centre at Taunton will be close to £7 million now that the date in the South West has slipped from October 2011 to March 2012.

According to figures released to Parliament, since April 2008 the cost of running the building in Taunton has already been £2.1million. The Government expects to spend another £4.62 million over the coming two years and nine months.

The Conservatives have promised to scrap the scheme should they win the next election. This could save some £2.9 million if the scheme were cancelled immediately after an election in June 2010.

Mark Harper said:

“With the announcement of yet another delay to this project the Government should accept the inevitable and scrap the scheme.

This is an extraordinary amount of money to be spending on what is effectively an empty building at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch of the recession. The Government should stop wasting money on a project which won’t make anyone safer.

If a Conservative Government comes to power, we will cancel this wasteful project if it is not yet implemented and, with this further delay, that prospect becomes ever more likely.”