THE controversial new regional fire control centre for the South East is to be based at Fareham in Hampshire, it has been announced.

The centre will cover Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampsire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, Oxon and Buckinghamshire.

The centre will be part of a new national network of control centres and is the last of nine to be confirmed.

But Fire Brigades Union officials are angry, claiming workers in a call centre outside Kent won't have sufficent local knowledge of the county.

The union is opposing the replacement of the 46 existing control centres and the loss of 380 jobs.