A state of the art regional control centre in Cambridge is to be sold off after lying unused, it has been announced.

The £23 million pound centre, in Waterbeach, was part of the Labour government's plans to regionalise fire control rooms - but was never used when the plan was abandoned. The centre has since remained unused, while racking up monthly running costs of an estimated £160,000.

Adrian Clarke, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said the whole project has been a "scandalous waste" of public money. "I'm coming up to having completed 30 years in the Fire Service and in that time I have never witnessed such a scandalous waste."

Baroness Hanham, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, said: "It is clearly unsatisfactory that taxpayers have had to foot the bill for this poorly conceived and poorly implemented project from the last administration, and taxpayers will no doubt resent such expensive buildings lying empty because of the botched procurement and handling under the last government."

A tenant or owner is now being sought for the property.

Posted on 01/08/2012 by Robert Mair