A PILOT project which has seen police in Warrington and Halton joining forces to play an "invaluable" part in a major new call-handling system is having teething problems.

The Halton and Warrington Call Management Pilot was launched in April this year to test run the preferred way of handling calls for the constabulary by 2003.

It combines the current control rooms of the two divisions to form a centralised facility which covers both areas and has two service delivery centres - one for call management and one for deployment.

There are three distinct phases of implementation for the project - with the introduction of switchboard calls expected in October or November this year, 999 calls in January 2002 and crime recording in April 2002.

In a report to Cheshire Police Authority's annual meeting on Tuesday, Chief Constable Nigel Burgess said that the initial settling in' period has identified issues which have impacted on the progress of the report.

Controlled trials of switchboard calls have raised issues of staffing, which have resulted in stage two being delayed by about 14 weeks - but he claims this is justifiable due to the "impact on public and staff".

But despite the teething problems, it seems the scheme is a valuable source of information for the future of the service - six reports have already been produced in the assessment and research of the project's progress.

Chief Constable Burgess concluded: "It must be stressed that the pilot is providing invaluable information which will facilitate the definition and implementation of a new call management process and structures in 2003."