Residents and businesses across the county are being given more time to help shape the future of Oxfordshire’s fire and rescue service, after Oxfordshire County Council extended its public consultation deadline until the end of January 2026.
The consultation, which had originally been due to close on Tuesday 20 January, is examining a set of proposals aimed at ensuring fire stations, resources and staffing are positioned to meet the county’s changing needs and population growth, while improving safety, efficiency and resilience.
Rob MacDougall, Oxfordshire County Council’s fire and rescue service’s Chief Fire Officer, said:
“I’d like to thank everyone who has already shared their thoughts on our proposals through the public consultation, we’ve had over 900 responses to date.
“Based on the interest shown, and because we want as wide a contribution of opinions as possible, we’ve now decided to keep it open for another couple of weeks, until the end of this month.”
The proposals follow a recent review of how Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service delivers emergency response and community safety across the county. The review considered when and where wholetime and on-call firefighters operate, with the aim of better matching resources to demand throughout the day and night.
The service has seen a 36 per cent reduction in full-time equivalent on-call firefighters over the past decade, affecting its ability to respond during daytime hours when demand is highest. At the same time, there is currently greater availability of fire engines and firefighters overnight, when demand is lower.
Mr MacDougall said:
“It’s important that we regularly review our resources, understand where incidents are most likely to happen and ensure we have the right level of emergency cover in those areas.
“We provide a fire and rescue service for the people of Oxfordshire, and I want them to play an active role in helping us plan and shape the future of the service by participating in our public consultation.”
The consultation includes options involving Rewley Road fire station in Oxford, including the reallocation of firefighters to create five new day-shift fire engines in Wallingford or Crowmarsh, Faringdon, Witney, Bicester and Chipping Norton.
Further proposals consider moving fire engines from Rewley Road and Kidlington to a new station north of Oxford, as well as changes at Thame and a review of several on-call stations with consistently low availability.
Read more: Residents invited to help shape future of Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service
Councillor Jenny Hannaby, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing and Safety, said:
“Your feedback is really important in helping us provide an even better fire and rescue service. The more opinions we receive, the more we can be confident that the decisions we take at the end of the consultation will deliver the kind of fire and rescue service you want across Oxfordshire.”
The consultation is available online via Let’s Talk Oxfordshire until the end of January.
