FIRE union bosses say government plans to build a regional control centre in Taunton is part of a project three years late and 14 times over budget, which could end up costing lives in Dorset.

The government wants to transfer the county's fire control room in Dorchester to the new centre covering the whole of the South West.

But a Fire Brigades Union (FBU) study claims the cost of the national project - to close all 46 centres and build nine new regional sites - has leapt from £100 million to £1.4 billion.

Dorset Fire and Rescue Service representative Karen Adams says the county's brigade will have to fork out some of the costs, which could affect frontline services.

She said: "We are being asked to go into a project that will cost £1.4 billion, and our fire service will have to pay a chunk of that.

"We haven't stopped campaigning against this but the government is determined to stay with it and it doesn't seem to matter what the costs spiral to.

"If we go ahead with this control centre plan more money will be lost and services will be cut, without a doubt."

According to the FBU, the centres were due to start opening in the autumn of 2006 but this has been put back to 2009.

The Taunton regional centre will replace control rooms in Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Avon, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

FBU General secretary Matt Wrack said: "Long delays and soaring costs have made this a disaster for the fire service. The entire UK fire service only costs £1.7 billion a year to run, so this is using up money on a scale the service has never seen before.

"The government needs to rethink its plans and consider what impact this is having on local fire authorities being bled dry of cash."

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government disputed the FBU findings.

He said: "The £100m figure was an early estimate for the one-off costs of initial implementation of the fire control project.

"The £1.4 billion figure is the total forecast cost providing emergency call handling and mobilisation control services for England for 17 years. This is a saving over the present system."