The Emergency Operations Centre is scheduled to close in Bransford under plans by the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

So far 2,000 people have signed a Worcester News petition to keep it open. Health reporter James Connell talks to people on both sides The case for is made by senior call taker and Unison representative Liz Kabani, based at the Bransford Emergency Operations Centre.

She is leading the campaign to keep the emergency operations centre open.

"Keeping Bransford Ambulance Control opens allows the West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust Board to: l Fulfil its commitment to retain Bransford - a condition of the merger with West Midlands Ambulance Service July 1, 2006. The population of Herefordshire and Worcestershire needs to know the board honours its word on contentious issues.

l Employ local people to serve the communities within Herefordshire and Worcestershire. No loss of local knowledge, backed up by the technological solutions the board wishes to implement. All control staff having the ability to help callers unsure of their location and able to assist crews find locations when SatNavs fail or misdirect.

l Comply with the Civil Contingencies Act ensuring continuity of services should any of the control rooms malfunction. Bransford is an extremely low-risk terrorist target. It's no more at risk than any other control room of suffering a natural disaster and with a lower risk of collapse of infrastructure should the worst happen.

Last month's floods will recur whether Bransford remains open or closes. How much better to have staff with local knowledge actually in the area? It ensures extra crews drafted in will be dispatched to the correct side of the river. Basic stuff, but an easy mistake to make if you're not local.

l Deliver the same quality of patient care regionwide. At Hereford's public meeting on August 16 a paramedic voiced his opinion that rural outlying areas of Herefordshire and Worcestershire would be left without emergency cover. How do Herefordshire and Worcestershire taxpayers feel about funding a better service in Birmingham whilst they receive a poorer one?

It can be financed by raising capital against Bransford i.e sell the freehold, lease/rent the building back. No expenditure on fuel, travelling time, redundancies; outgoings of no benefit to the patient."

The case against is made by Anthony Marsh, Chief Executive Officer of the West Midlands Ambulance Service.

"By reorganising control rooms we will be able to answer emergency calls faster, provide better and more appropriate services for patients, such as doctor advice, and make the systems far more resilient.

No one likes change but the simple fact is that the current arrangements are not safe.

If there were to be a major failure at Bransford, there would be no ambulance service in Hereford and Worcester for at least 40 minutes.

Local knowledge is useful but call handlers are trained to ensure they don't make assumptions about locations that, if wrong, could be fatal.

When staff at Bransford started they did not have local knowledge. It is not part of the recruitment criteria and staff are not tested on it.

There will be no redundancies, staff will continue to dispatch vehicles in the same areas and new technology will make that job even more efficient.

The triangulation of mobile phones will mean a location is instantly available for people calling from for example cars or injured on the Malvern Hills thus saving many minutes.

Those working at Bransford are rightly proud of the service they provide across the two counties but was local knowledge eroded when the Hereford Control Room closed? Of course not.

Equally, Coventry didn't suffer when Warwickshire took over even though the dispatchers had never worked that area before.During the recent floods, the staff performed magnificently. But the majority of the information they were using to get vehicles around impassable roads was being fed from Gold Command and from local ambulance crews.

This proposal will not lead to any changes in where ambulances are based. No ambulance stations will close.

Retaining all five of the current controls isn't financially viable and will not cope with future patient demands or provide the necessary resilience.

I have spent my career trying to deliver better care for patients and I will not allow anything to happen that will lead to a reduction in services in your area."