AS if the people of Cornwall had not already had enough of the police and ambulance call centres, we are about to have a regional fire service call centre forced upon us.

Everybody that I have spoken to opposes this move. Indeed, had there been any form of proper public consultation I suspect the answer from Cornwall would be a resounding "no."

It has not however just been criticised by the public but the Fire Brigade Union and Cornwall county council. In my opinion, Cornwall is being subjected to a dangerous experiment, one that could easily lead to the loss of lives, in the event of a large fire such as recently happened to Trago Mills in Devon, potentially, the loss of many lives.

However, this duplicitous government with its obsession with centralising everything in the unwieldy and artificial South West region (again, something no one seems to want, whereas a Cornish Assembly had over 50,000 people signing Mebyon Kernow's petition).

Mebyon Kernow's prospective parliamentary candidate, Hilda Wasley, has wisely proposed an alternative to these flawed and dangerous plans from John Prescott, namely to retain the present fire service control centre and expand it into an integrated control centre for all the emergency services (fire, police, ambulance, life guard and lifeboat) in Cornwall.

Such a call centre would be able to deal with an emergency rapidly and ensure that the right service or combination of services be sent to the scene.

A petition has already been launched and attracted a large response. Copies of that petition are available on receipt of a SAE from Hilda Wasley, C/o Falmouth-Camborne Mebyon Kernow, 14 Pendarves Street, Troon, Camborne TR14 9EG.

Coun Stuart Cullimore, branch secretary, Falmouth-Camborne Mebyon Kernow, the Party for Cornwall