PLANS for an East of England fire control centre have been delayed.

The new regional centre, which will deal with all 999 calls for Essex, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire and Luton and Bedfordshire, will be based in Cambridge and will replace the individual emergency control centres currently operated by each of the services.

It was originally due to open late in 2011, but plans have been delayed because of an IT problem, pushing the official opening into 2012.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service chief fire officer David Johnson has pledged to delay the move further should the cutover date get too close to the Olympics in London in the summer of 2012.