IN January 2015, a triple arson attack near Wallingford saw three buildings engulfed in flames: South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils' headquarters, a funeral parlour next door and a nearby thatched cottage.

The fires were all started by Andrew Main of nearby Rokemarsh, who was mentally ill.

The destruction saw dozens of firefighters race to the scene in an attempt to quell the flames, but the council offices were destroyed beyond repair.

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In March that year, Main, then 47, admitted the arson, but was declared mentally unfit to stand trial and was sectioned indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

Both councils have been operating from a temporary office at Milton Park since the fire, but in August last year the bulldozers moved in to start demolition of their old building.

They are now planning to build a new building at the same site.