THE leader of South Oxfordshire District Council said insurers were due to say “within days” if the burnt-out council HQ was worth saving.

Milton Park has now been selected as the preferred location for 400 staff from SODC and Vale of White Horse District Council following the fire which virtually destroyed the £10m council building in Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, near Wallingford, on January 15.

Since the fire, about half the staff have been working at Abbey House, Abingdon while others have been working from home.

In March a deal was struck for the councils to relocate to Milton Park and staff are due to start moving at the end of May into the building previously used by Research Machines.

But it is not yet known if the burnt-out council HQ at Crowmarsh Gifford can be rebuilt or will be demolished, as it could be cheaper for the councils to look for a permanent base elsewhere.

SODC leader John Cotton said: “We are still waiting for a report from the insurers about what they will offer to repair the damage.

“We are expecting the report could come in any day now and depending on how much they offer that will open up options. We are not ruling out demolition.”

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 FLASHBACK: The blaze endangered.