THE North West's new £18.5million fire control room was axed today without taking a single call.

The Fire Minister confirmed the contract to set up regional control rooms had been terminated to avoid spending even more cash.

£16million of public money has already been spent building the region's facility in Warrington and a further £2.5million on rent, bills, security and business rates.

It was due to replace fire control rooms in Lancashire, Cumbria, Merseyside, Greater Manchester and Cheshire in the next two years.

Since the plans were announced in 2004, there has been strong criticism of the scheme amid fears local knowledge would be lost at the new regional HQ.

A Fire Brigades Union survey said 95 per cent of the firefighters in the North West thought the plans would worsen the response of the fire and rescue service to incidents.

Today Steve Harman, secretary of the Lancashire FBU branch, said the aborted Warrington control room was a ‘colossal waste of money’.

He said: “This is yet another failed Government project and we condemned it from the start.

“We simply don’t think that a regional control centre would in any way enhance the fire service.”

David O’Toole, the Conservative chairman of Lancashire Fire Authority, said the plan to set up the regional centres had been ‘totally mismanaged’ since being launched by the Labour government in 2004.

He added: “Everyone, no matter what party, feel the same: that the whole thing has been totally mismanaged.

“Now we are left with this massive empty building.”

It is not know what will happen to the control room in Warrington, which was handed over to the fire service last year.

Coun O’Toole said it was possible the five counties could still club together to set up their own pooled control centre separate from the Government.

Fire Minister Bob Neill said he had axed its contract with outsourcing firm Cassidian after being told the control rooms could not be ‘delivered to an acceptable timeframe’.

In a written statement to Parliament, the minister said: "The progress of the project has caused serious concern, and so in June this year I made it clear to the main FiReControl contractor, Cassidian (formerly EADS Defence & Security), that the main IT system must now be delivered to time, cost and quality.

"At this point, we activated a key milestone in their contract requiring the main IT system to be completed in three control centres by mid-2011.

"We told Cassidian that no additional taxpayers' money could be invested in this project, nor would delivery of a system of reduced quality or functionality be acceptable.

"Following extensive discussion with Cassidian, we have jointly concluded, with regret, that the requirements of the project cannot be delivered to an acceptable timeframe.

"Therefore the best outcome for the taxpayer and the fire and rescue community is for the contract to be terminated with immediate effect.

"Cassidian and the Department for Communities and Local Government have reached an acceptable settlement over this, although the details will remain commercially confidential."