Oxford University has warned that proposed cuts to the fire service by the county council could endanger lives and put the city’s historic architecture at risk.

The institution and its affiliated colleges own significant amounts of property and investment holdings throughout Oxford.

Approximately 250 structures spanning an area equivalent to over 80 football pitches are owned by the university and its colleges.

However, Gillian Aitken, the university’s registrar, cautioned that Oxfordshire County Council’s plans to reduce fire stations, fire engines and personnel could jeopardise all of this.

Ms Aitken stated in correspondence to the council that particular worry has been expressed regarding moving the Rewley Road facility from the heart of the city to North Oxford.

The university presently enjoys productive working arrangements with crews stationed at Rewley Road and The Slade, she explained. These teams provide essential site-specific hazard information, fire prevention guidance, and collaborative training sessions across the grounds. Under the suggested arrangement, reduced staffing would mean fewer personnel available for such activities, with remaining teams required to serve a much larger area following the proposed closure of various on-call stations. This would inevitably decrease involvement, compromise prevention efforts, and harm public safety within the city.

The county council has maintained that combining Rewley Road and Kidlington into a single new facility in North Oxford would enhance response times to the surrounding region while providing improved accessibility for firefighters outside the central area.

Late last year, a blaze occurred at Mansfield College Oxford, a 19th-century institution, which was quickly extinguished.

Principal Helen Mountfield praised the emergency service for its excellent response and arriving just in time, warning that had the crew been any slower, the library would have been lost entirely.

She expressed concern that without a centrally-located fire station, the libraries, museums, colleges, laboratories and individuals associated with Oxford University would face increased danger.

A university spokesperson indicated that while the institution acknowledges the difficulties confronting the council and fire service, it remains troubled that reducing city-centre fire engines and shifting coverage northward would substantially increase arrival times to the highest-risk zones, compromising protection for the city’s historic estates, laboratories and college properties, as well as diminishing day-to-day fire safety interaction with the university.

Oxford City Council leader Susan Brown observed that the university had noted how ‘reducing resources in the area with the highest incident demand, highest population density, and greatest concentration of vulnerable buildings is inconsistent with a risk-based approach’. She expressed strong agreement with this assessment and pointed out that the county council itself had acknowledged response times in the city would deteriorate and that this would disproportionately affect already disadvantaged communities, despite deprivation being a factor in deaths from accidental residential fires. She expressed hope that the county would reconsider these risky proposals.

The Fire Brigades Union, which has been vocal in its opposition to the plans, is currently conducting a consultative ballot among its Oxfordshire members regarding potential strike action.

Ballots must be returned by March 30, after which a decision will be made on subsequent steps.

Steve Wright, an Oxford and Didcot firefighter with over two decades of service and general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, warned that closing Rewley Road station would severely limit access to Botley and Osney Island. He noted that reaching the Botley Road area now takes considerable time, creating significant danger if a major fire were to occur.

Thames Valley Police declined to provide comment on the proposed fire service changes or disclose its submission to the county council.

Chief superintendent Ben Clark stated that while it was unsuitable for the force to comment directly on the specifics of the Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service proposals, it was worth emphasising that the two services already maintain a close relationship both as emergency service partners and as participants in the broader Oxfordshire community safety partnership, and looked forward to continuing collaborative work.

Police and crime commissioner Matthew Barber did not submit a formal response to the consultation and declined to share his views on the proposed reductions.

South Central Ambulance Service has been contacted for its perspective.

The Oxford Civic Society expressed concern about maintaining adequate provision to protect city residents, their homes and the abundance of historic and architecturally significant buildings.

Oxfordshire County Council’s chief fire officer Rob MacDougall stated that the safety and welfare of all county residents was paramount and that the review sought to redistribute resources to better align with risk. Under their proposals, prevention and protection levels would remain unaffected as resources in Oxford would be concentrated on the city rather than having to travel further to provide emergency response across the county.

The county council has previously indicated that Oxford would continue to have the fastest response time of all districts at eight minutes and 30 seconds, compared to 11 minutes and 29 seconds for Oxfordshire as a whole.

Little information is available regarding the consultation outcomes, which concluded at the end of January.

A report examining the responses will be presented to Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet in spring 2026, when a final determination will be made on the proposed service alterations.