North-east council leaders will hold talks with Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill in Edinburgh tomorrow about the impact of cuts to emergency services.
Aberdeen City Council leader Barney Crockett and his Aberdeenshire counterpart, Jim Gifford, want to press the case for scrapping plans to shut fire and police control rooms.
All 999 calls for the area will be dealt with by staff in Dundee under plans by Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to shake up the current system.
The Scottish Government has insisted that all operational decisions are a matter for the respective boards, but Mr Crockett, a Labour councillor, believes Mr MacAskill should answer for the controversial proposals.
He said: “I think he has tried to avoid responsibility but he is the minister and the buck stops with him.
“It is good that we are working with our colleagues in Aberdeenshire to get the maximum impact, speaking for everybody in the north-east.
“I think it is important that decisions are re- evaluated. I don’t think the framework on which the decision has been made makes sense at all.
“To say you need regional response centres but position them all cheek by jowl in the central belt does not add up at all. Aberdeen is the forgotten city and we need to make sure that is not the case.”
Mr Gifford admitted that “realistically” there was little chance of a change of heart from the heads of the police and fire services, given the budget pressures facing the single forces.
But the Conservative councillor said he hoped Mr MacAskill would take on board some of the local concerns.
He added: “From Aberdeenshire’s point of view, we have an issue with the closures and whether it is the best operational thing to do, but we have a bigger issue with the process that was used to get there.
“We were not involved with any of the debate. We are supposed to be working in partnership with each other but that just has not happened.
“We have already raised this with the police and fire service, but Mr MacAskill is driving this so we will make sure that he knows we are not happy about it.”