ABOUT 400 staff from two councils in South Oxfordshire can expect to move into a new office in May following the devastating fire earlier this year.

Staff from SODC and Vale of White Horse District Council have been working in crammed Abbey House in Abingdon, some even in corridors, after the blaze left the headquarters in Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, virtually destroyed.

The fire ripped through the 1970s building during the early hours of January 15.

The offices, worth an estimated £10 million, were not fitted with sprinklers and suffered extensive damage throughout.

It is not yet known if a new council office will be rebuilt on the site and it is possible that the land could be sold for housing instead.


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Since the blaze, council leaders have been seeking a new HQ and SODC leader John Cotton said a deal was about to be signed on a lease for offices at Milton Park near Didcot.

He said: “We are incredibly close to signing the deal on Milton Park and once we have signed the lease we expect to move in around the end of May.

“We could have been in by mid-April but we will now wait until after the elections in May .

“We will be able to get all the staff into the new office but it’s not as big as our old office so it is going to be cosy.”

Mr Cotton praised staff for working in difficult conditions, with some being forced to work from home, and said the way they rallied round was “like the Blitz spirit”.

Vale of White Horse District Council leader Matthew Barber said: “Staff have been praised for mucking in – some of them have been working in corridors and I think it will be a boost to staff to know that the end is in sight.

“Getting into the new building is taking slightly longer than we would have wished, and it would have been ideal if we could have moved in next week, but we now need to focus on election preparation and continuity of services.”

It is not yet known how long staff will be based at the office in Milton Park.

As well as the blaze at the council offices, a nearby funeral parlour was also set alight and a thatched cottage in Rokemarsh near Benson.

Andrew Main, 47, of Roke Marsh Farm, Roke, near Wallingford, is charged with two counts of arson with intent to endanger life and two counts of arson reckless as to whether life was endangered.

Main is due to appear at Oxford Crown Court on April 10.