NEW headquarters for the Church of England in Oxfordshire will allow it to expand its education department in coming decades.

The Diocese of Oxford has purchased the left half of Bannister House at Langford Locks business park, Kidlington, to be its base.

Church leaders said they wanted to be able to expand their operations, especially in education now that they are running a multi-school academy trust in Oxfordshire.

The Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust now runs 13 schools – nine in Oxfordshire, three in Berkshire and one in Gloucestershire.

Acting Bishop of Oxford the Rt Rev Colin Fletcher said: “Our education team has recently expanded to ensure that the Church can continue to deliver its vitally important historic mission to serve the community through education in a changed political landscape.”

The diocese said the 1,365sq m new home will provide staff with a more flexible, open-plan working space and improved IT provision.

It will also allow the diocese to expand its operations over the coming years and take on more staff if necessary.

Diocesan secretary Rosemary Pearce said: “We are planning for the next 15 years. Our vision is that we will provide a resource and training centre for the whole diocese.

“We also believe that developments such as open-plan working will offer significant advantages for our staff in terms of working across teams.”

The new offices will also provide a home to the Archdeacon of Oxford and the Diocesan director of ordinands who until now have had offices at Christ Church Cathedral.

The diocese plans to sell its current home, Diocesan Church House in North Hinksey, as offices to fund the move.

Ms Pearce said Church House had long left the church short of adequate meeting and training space and forced administrators to turn down room bookings from across the diocese.

She said: “We have also had a storage problem for our archives, there is acute pressure on parking which causes difficulties for our neighbours in North Hinksey and it’s fair to say that DCH is in need of significant refurbishment to bring it up to standard.”

The diocese spent a year-and-a-half searching for a new home and considered a number of options including extending the North Hinksey premises.

Ms Pearce said the Bishop’s Council eventually settled on Langford Locks in February, following “negotiation to ensure this was a sound purchase”.

But the diocese refused to reveal how much it spent on the new offices.

It is hoped that diocese’s 90 staff will relocate from North Hinksey to Langford Locks by Easter.