High profile MP backs calls for 999 centre in Highlands

A Highland MP says a campaign to have the region’s emergency services staff answering 999 calls under one roof makes "sense".

Charles Kennedy has backed a merged Highland emergency call centre with police, fire, health and council staff and suggested other agencies, like HM Coastguard, could be invited too.

Highland Council has suggested the public services could team up and open a shared call-handling hub in Inverness, where each would have their own space within the building.

It came in the wake of the threat to the region’s 999 fire command room.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) will decide in January whether to axe the region’s Inverness fire control room, where 19 staff are employed, to save money.

The former Liberal Democrat party leader – who is also alarmed at the police, fire and ambulance services drawing up different territorial boundaries in his constituency – has welcomed the council’s idea.

"I am attracted by the idea of a single site housing all the emergency/blue light services," said Mr Kennedy, who represents Ross, Skye and Lochaber. "I could also see the sense in others, e.g. the Coastguard, also being involved.

"The problem here may involve existing leases, etc. and if all the services could be brought together under not just the same roof but also the same timescale. It’s important to get these decisions correct at the outset, in the interests of both public confidence and the public purse."

The region’s fire brigade and police force were dissolved in April in favour of national set-ups but Mr Kennedy said there had been too much centralisation at local expense.

Drew Hendry, the council leader, said it was keen to hold talks with SRFR about the emergency base suggestion.

"We believe that the proposal is a good fit for the SFRS’s needs and are keen to pursue solutions to any issues that may need to be dealt with to make the proposal work for all partners but, given the timescales, specifically for the SFRS," said Councillor Hendry.

"We would be keen to work with them constructively to achieve a state-of-the-art co-located control room that meets the needs of Scotland but also effectively covers the Highlands and Islands."

Councillor Hendry said local authorities in Western Isles, Moray and Argyll had lent their support while Police Scotland and NHS Highland were also "keen to develop" it.

The national fire brigade has said it will consider the council’s proposal.

SFRS’s board postponed a decision earlier this month on whether its busy Inverness centre - which handled 4,400 calls in the last year – should close, so more information could be sought.

The control room, at the city’s Seafield Road, is up against Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh after the future of a fire control room in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, was secured.

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