It is not often that this column praises the work of county councillors, but credit where it is due. Oxfordshire county councillor Rodney Rose vetoed a lease on a £25m building in Fareham that would have been the South-East fire control room. His refusal to sign without the new software being put in place led to the deal falling through and to him being shunned for two months by the rest of group who wanted the deal to go ahead.

The software later proved to be inadequate for the task and the FiReControl plan was scrapped last year, vindicating Mr Rose’s stand.

A House of Commons committee recently said the plan to create nine regional centres across England ended up costing £423m without delivering any of its aims.