STAFF at a funeral directors said they have been inundated with messages of support after a devastating blaze caused an estimated £100,000 worth of damage.

The Howard Chadwick Funeral Parlour was one of several buildings in the Wallingford area that went up in flames following arson attacks during the early hours of January 15.

The funeral office is next to the £10m South Oxfordshire District Council (SODC) office in Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, which was gutted in the incident.

Alistair Cox is co-owner of the funeral directors with Howard Chadwick and has been a partner in the business since it was founded in 1991.

The family firm moved to its purpose-built premises near the council offices in 2008.

Mr Cox, 43, who is Mr Chadwick’s nephew, said: “It has been a crazy week but we could not have asked for more support from the local community.

“We have had so many messages of support from people living locally and phone calls from around the world.

“The office where we welcomed families has been gutted, but the mortuary at the back had fireproof doors and has not been affected. I would estimate that the building has suffered at least £100,000 of damage – it must run to six figures by the time you take into account computers and other damage, including damage caused by the smoke.”

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This week SODC leader John Cotton said staff may never return to the burned-out council headquarters.

About 400 staff from South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils have been forced to work elsewhere with about 80 people working from Abbey House in Abingdon while others have been working from home as council leaders weigh up their best options.

Mr Cotton said loss adjusters working for the the council’s insurers were now assessing the cost of the damage.

He added: “It’s possible we will never go back there. We have a number of options available to us – the first is a rebuild at Crowmarsh but that could be two or three years away.

“The second option would be to sell the land at Crowmarsh and build somewhere else – the Crowmarsh site would not be a bad location for housing.

“The third option would be renting a new office somewhere else – not every organisation owns its own offices these days.

“But until we know how much the insurers are prepared to give us for the building we can’t make a long-term decision.”

More than 100 firefighters tackled the blaze which spread throughout the council building.

Mr Cotton said the council chamber was one of the areas of the building least affected by the blaze.

The developers challenged a planning inspector’s decision to refuse permission for the new homes but a High Court judge rejected the legal challenge.

Andrew Main, 47, of Roke Marsh Farm, Rokemarsh, near Benson, has been charged with a series of arson offences in connection with the fires and is due to appear at Oxford Crown Court on January 30.

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