Campaigners are stepping up their fight to get a fire station built in their town.

People in Carterton are hoping to revive the issue at a full meeting of Oxfordshire County Council.

Town councillors and West Oxfordshire district councillors are also likely to put their weight behind the initiative.

Calls for the fire station have so far been rejected because there is cover for the town from existing fire stations in Witney, Burford and Bampton -- all within seven miles.

But campaigner Deidre Bulley, county councillor for Carterton, said the case needed looking at again.

She said: "There has been a tremendous amount of new housing in the town and it is possible there could be more businesses coming.

"It has often been said that the RAF base has its own fire service and could respond to calls in the town. But the increased use of Brize Norton airfield means that it is increasingly unlikely this will ever be a viable option."

Oxfordshire's deputy chief fire officer John Hurren said there was no evidence that Carterton, despite its expansion, was becoming a high risk area.

Carterton Town Council has drawn up it own demand, based on the fact that the town, second only in size to Witney in West Oxfordshire, is expected to grow to a population of 20,000 by 2010.

A major new housing development of over 1,000 homes is currently being built in the north east of the town.

They have also pointed out that the town has two large mobile home sites, in Milestone Road and Burford Road, "which present a particularly high fire risk".

Town Clerk Janet Eustace said: "The average response time for Carterton in the latest available figures was 12 minutes. This is not fast enough to deal with a mobile home fire."

West Oxfordshire District Council's cabinet is to review the issue at its next meeting on Wednesday April 16 and officers are recommending they support the move.

"Bampton and Burford stations continue to provide cover and in the last year we have made arrangements for RAF Brize Norton fire teams to provide additional cover in Carterton.

"At the moment the base is extremely busy supporting the war effort. We have also held back on it in view of the firefighters' dispute. We did not want them to think we were making the arrangement because of the dispute."