Council concern at plans to close control centres

Orkney Islands Council has expressed disappointment at apparent plans to close emergency contact centres for both police and fire services in Inverness.

In papers due to be discussed tomorrow, Thursday, at separate meetings of the Police Scotland Board and Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Board, incident control rooms currently based in Inverness will either close or take on different roles.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Board meeting will be considering recommendations to close the Inverness control room.

The Police Board papers recommend a change of purpose from a public incident control room, to a national major incident and events control room and national Police and criminal database enquiry centre, with all calls from the public being diverted to a control room in Dundee.

Speaking ahead of the discussions,  chairman of Orkney Islands Council’s Police and Fire Sub-Committee, Councillor Andrew Drever, said: “I am very disappointed that the council’s plea for the retention of public access Police and Fire Control Rooms in Inverness have fallen on deaf ears as the reports to be considered by the respective Boards have excluded their retention.

“With separate Police and Fire Control Rooms now looking like they will be located in the Central Belt, the vast geographical, dialect and mobilising knowledge held by Inverness operators may well be lost.

“It’s our understanding that all 999 calls and Single Non Emergency 101 calls will now be routed through these centres.

“All that will be retained within Highland and Islands is Police National Database Enquiries and Event and North Support Control Room which again I’m lead to believe will have no public contact.

“This further move towards centralisation of services goes against the assurances given by the Scottish Government that Reform of police and fire services would give Local Authorities more local accountability. These proposals, if agreed, in my mind, show this is not the case.”