A VIDEO has been released showing the devastating effects of an arson attack on council offices last month.

The offices of South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse district councils in Crowmarsh Gifford were ravaged by a fire, believed to have been started deliberately, on January 15th.

But just three weeks on, the councils say it’s nearly “back to business as usual” with staff working from temporary offices and from home.

Cllr John Cotton, leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “The fact that we were up and running so soon is a result of good business continuity planning mixed with some ingenuity and improvisation. As much as anything else though, it’s down to some serious hard work from our staff who have pulled together and risen to the challenge brilliantly.  There’s a long way to go yet, but I’m very happy that the majority of our residents will barely have noticed a blip in the services we’re providing.”

Cllr Matthew Barber, leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “We’re really grateful to everybody for their offers of support and practical help, as well as to people for being patient with for the week or so that some of our services were delayed. Thankfully we’ve managed to keep any disruption to a minimum.  The most important thing is that nobody with an urgent problem has been made to wait a minute longer than they should.”

The councils are expecting to use temporary office locations for “two or three” years and the fate of the Crowmarsh offices is “undecided”.

See the offices after the arson attack: