Press Statement
U-Turn on Oxfordshire Fire Station Closures Welcomed – But Serious Questions Remain
We welcome the decision by Oxfordshire Chief Fire Officer, Rob MacDougall, to withdraw his recommendation to close three on-call fire stations. The final decision will now be made at the Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet meeting on 21 April 2026.
The proposed closures of Woodstock, Eynsham, and Henley fire stations formed part of a wider consultation launched late last year, which concluded in January. Our formal response strongly opposed these closures and set out a range of practical solutions to improve the recruitment and retention of on-call firefighters, not only at these three stations, but across the county.
While this reversal is a positive step, it raises an important question: why were these solutions not properly explored at an earlier stage? Doing so could have avoided months of uncertainty and distress for local communities, as well as the dedicated firefighters whose roles were placed under threat.
We are also concerned that the consultation presented only a single option – the closure of fire stations. A meaningful and credible consultation should offer a range of well-developed alternatives, enabling informed decision-making. This was clearly lacking.
Unfortunately, this approach reflects a wider trend within fire and rescue services across England, where consultations appear to promote a predetermined outcome, with little transparency about the consequences of the proposal. Similar concerns have been raised in Warwickshire, Buckinghamshire, and Dorset & Wiltshire.
In Dorset & Wiltshire, where proposals to close eight fire stations are currently under consultation, and we anticipate a similarly strong public response. We remain firmly opposed to these plans, which we believe are fundamentally flawed, not in the public interest, and risk compromising public safety.
We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to our members, their families, and colleagues for their continued support throughout these campaigns. We remain committed to protecting firefighter roles and ensuring that fire stations stay open to serve their communities.
The revised recommendations to the Cabinet of Oxfordshire County Council is:
i) support for the fire and rescue service to continue engagement with its employees with respect to the main proposal comprised of implementing 12-hour day shifts for full-time firefighters at five currently on-call fire stations.
ii) support for the Fire and Rescue Service to continue engagement with its employees with respect to the proposal to remove the On Call fire engine from Rewley Road Fire Station.
iii) agreement to revisit at a later date the north of Oxford fire station proposal once further details are known.
iv) withdraw the proposal to remove the second fire engine at Thame Fire Station whilst the Fire and Rescue Service continue discussions with colleagues around fire and rescue cover in this area.
v) agreement to withdraw any station closures from the proposals to provide an opportunity for the service to explore further local and centralised firefighter recruitment.
vi) Recognition of the financial implications of recommendations iv and v (as set out in Annex 2) and agreement to consider the need for further investment for the Fire and Rescue Service in line with Options 5 – 7 as part of the budget planning for 2027/28.
vii) approval of any other actions required to enable continued engagement and consideration of the revised policy approach.
ENDS
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