FIRE unions are concerned a merged control room based in Berkshire will not have enough staff to meet demand.

Plans to move Oxfordshire’s fire control room over the border were rubber-stamped by Oxfordshire County Council ’s cabinet yesterday. The scheme will involve linking the two counties’ control rooms in a hub in Calcot, Reading, with 22 job cuts.

And last night fire bosses in Berkshire were expected to approve the plans, which have been opposed by the Fire Brigades’ Union.

FBU spokesman Rachel Dobson raised concerns over whether a proposed combined staff of 30, instead of 52 current staff across both services, would meet demand.

She said decisions about deploying crews took time, and the FBU worried this was time the new team wouldn’t have.

She said: “We’re concerned there will not be enough staff on duty, partly because of the time it takes, and the situation is constantly changing.”

But Oxfordshire’s chief fire officer Dave Etheridge said: “I have every confidence that a joint control room in Calcot would expertly serve both Royal Berkshire’s and our needs here in Oxfordshire.”

The changes come after a plan for regional fire control centres initiated by the last Labour Government was dropped.

The proposals will save the council £287,000 per year.