Wight fire control switch from Surrey to Hampshire agreed

Emergency calls to Isle of Wight's fire service are answered in a control centre in Reigate, Surrey

Calls to Isle of Wight's fire service, currently dealt with in Surrey, are to be handed over to a control room in Hampshire from next year.

Councillors agreed a proposal to switch control rooms when its contract with Surrey Fire and Rescue ends in 2017.

Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue is already in a partnership with Hampshire's fire service, with the two organisations sharing a chief officer.

Under the latest plans, 999 calls would be answered in Winchester from 1 April.

In a meeting of the Isle of Wight Council executive committee, councillors approved the recommendation to move the control function to Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service for a period of five years.

Isle of Wight merged its control centre with Surrey in March 2012 in a five-year deal.

Call answerers in Reigate handle 999 calls from the island and mobilise fire crews in a deal that costs the Isle of Wight service £300,000 annually.

According to the report considered by councillors, the Hampshire deal would cost about £200,000 a year with £89,000 "transition costs".

Under the new agreement, Isle of Wight Council would remain the fire authority.

Earlier this year, neighbouring Dorset Fire and Rescue merged with Wiltshire's fire service in a bid to save £6m a year.