One year on today, the impact of devastating blazes at council headquarters, and other buildings near Wallingford, is still being felt. Andrew Ffrench reports

One year on from a dramatic series of arsons near Wallingford, the devastation caused by the fires remains fresh in the memories of residents.

But villagers, businesses and council workers who occupied the headquarters for South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils have worked hard to ensure they could put the dreadful event behind them and move on.

During the early hours of January 15 the peace in Crowmarsh Gifford was shattered when Andrew Main launched his astonishing attack.

He set fire to the council headquarters, the neighbouring Howard Chadwick funeral parlour, and a cottage in the nearby village of Rokemarsh.

The 47-year-old had crashed a vehicle into the entrance of the council building.

Main admitted starting the fires and was sectioned indefinitely under the Mental Health Act, but his motivation for the arsons was never explained.

After the blaze began at the £10m council building in Benson Lane, high winds reignited the flames and firefighters from across the county had to stay on site until the damaged remains were made safe.

Shocked council leaders and council staff who turned up for work on January 15 immediately realised they would not be returning to their desks anytime soon.

But some of the 400 council workers were immediately given a temporary base at Abbey House in Abingdon, the former home of Vale of White Horse District Council, and immediately began work on trying to ensure that council services were not too seriously disrupted.

Their dedication to duty in difficult circumstances, with many staff being forced towork from home, won praise from South Oxfordshire District Council’s leader John Cotton, who commended them for their “Blitz spirit”.

Recalling the days following the fires Mr Cotton said: “The focus immediately afterwards was not so much what was happening with the building but how we would keep going and provide the services.

“We had to make sure the services continued as well as possible and I think we were incredibly successful in that.

“To an extent I put that down to our alliance with the Vale council and the fact we could still use their offices in Abingdon.

“Abbey House was a stepping stone that gave us breathing space to look around, slightly more calmly, to see where we could relocate for the long-term.

“Some staff worked from Oxford and some from the Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot.

“There were lots of offers of help and everyone rallied round.

“We made sure that services including planning and benefits kept going and I think people were understanding that planning applications might take a bit longer than usual as some paperwork went up in flames.

“Much more information is now stored on computer, and I think I only heard one officer say “we lost that in the fire”.

Oxford Mail:

  • Firefighters working at the scene after the fire at the council offices in Crowmarch Gifford last January

At the end of June, council staff moved into their new home at Milton Park near Didcot.

Mr Cotton added: “That is working well for us and members of the public are now turning up, but we are also getting out to visit residents.

“With benefit claimants, for example, we might visit them rather than them visiting us.”

The precise future of the burnt-out building at Crowmarsh Gifford remains uncertain as a financial agreement has not yet been finalised with insurers Zurich.

Mr Cotton added: “Most of the details have been sorted out but surveyors are disagreeing about the precise costs on a couple of elements.

“We have reached an agreement with insurers that it is a renovation rather than knock down and rebuild.”

Funeral parlour staff refused to let fire affect their service

The Howard Chadwick funeral parlour in Crowmarsh Gifford also went up in flames during the early hours of January 15.

The funeral office is next door to the entrance of South Oxfordshire District Council headquarters in Benson Lane, and had been open since 1991.

The parlour suffered serious damage and needed a £100,000 refurbishment before it could reopen in April.

But staff at the business did not let the fire affect them or their customers and the owners carried on helping families from their homes as they waited for the refurbishment to be completed.

Oxford Mail:

  • Ryan Morris, left, and Alistair Cox at the funeral parlour

Father-of-three Alistair Cox, co-owner of the business, said: “We did everything we could to make sure the business carried on as normal so that we could continue helping local families.

“Everyone in Crowmarsh and further afield was very supportive – we had phone calls of support from around the globe.

“I think people in Crowmarsh all pulled together because the community is very close-knit.

“Probably nothing like this will happen again in my lifetime – it was a horrible experience at the time but we have come through it.”

The 44-year-old added: “I think it would be sad if the council workers did not return because it is very quiet without them but they may never go back and perhaps the site will one day be used for housing.

“Crowmarsh Gifford was quite eerie for a few weeks afterwards – people were in shock – but after a few months they moved on.

“You have to try to be positive.”