RESIDENTS have celebrated the opening of two community halls which were hit by fire and a building wrangle.

The halls were opened in Nuneham Courtenay, south of Oxford, and in Witney, to the delight of residents.

The Nuneham Courtenay hall was damaged by a fire after an electrical fault in May last year.

Insurance covered the cost of the £100,000 refurbishment and firefighters who tackled the blaze were invited to Saturday’s reopening.

Forty villagers, who were all inside the hall watching a play, escaped unharmed as 40 firefighters brought the blaze under control.

Village hall committee member Lauren Lister said: “The hall has been missed and it will be great to have it back in action.”

Miss Lister said: “Now that the hall is back up and running we hope to run a regular series of events at the hall which will enable villagers to get together and have fun.”

The £900,000 Madley Park Hall in Witney opened on Monday, seven months later than planned.

The Witney Town Council project was delayed by a dispute with contractors Beam Construction about the quality of the work, with councillors claiming the floor needed replacing.

An independent adjudicator will now decide whether any party is at fault.

Youngsters from activity group Tumble Tots were the first to use the building.

After handing the keys to hall trustees, Roger Curry, chairman of the town council’s public halls committee, said: “It feels absolutely fantastic.

He said delays had been “jolly frustrating” adding: “We just wanted to get in there and get going.”

Robyn Bissett, from Tumble Tots Witney, said: “It’s a wonderful building. It’s lovely and bright, it’s very airy and it’s perfect for what we do.”

Funding was given by developers behind the Madley Park housing development as a condition of planning permission from West Oxfordshire District Council.