Actor Jeremy Irons secures home for refugees

Actor Jeremy Irons has helped to ensure a cottage in Watlington can be let out to Ukrainian refugees.

The BBC understands he has agreed to enter into a tenancy on the property so it can continue to be used to house families in need.

The cottage and neighbouring library were left to Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) for the benefit of the people of Watlington.

Mr Irons, 75, helped renovate it last year to allow a Ukrainian family to move in, and has now helped to "get round" council concerns about entering into an official agreement.

The property was bequeathed to the council by Charlotte Coxe in 1949.

A Ukrainian family has already spent more than a year in the cottage, after fleeing war in their home country.

But OCC was "cautious" about entering into an official agreement with them because of the risk of creating a "secure tenancy", which gives tenants the right to stay in a property for the rest of their lives.

The Charlotte Coxe Trust Committee, part of OCC, has now agreed to enter into a year-long tenancy with a "named local sponsor", understood to be The Lion King and Man in the Iron Mask star Jeremy Irons.

The cottage will then be sublet to Ukrainian refugees.

County council solicitor Richard Hodby said it was a "positive story".

"Until about two years ago, 33 High Street had sat empty, unoccupied and a bit of an eyesore in Watlington's otherwise very attractive high street," he said.

"Thanks to the generosity of the sponsor and also to the local efforts... it has been transformed into a fully-occupiable property. And it's enabled a refugee family from Ukraine to spend... slightly in excess of 12 months there."

He said the agreement made on Thursday meant that they could "get round" tenancy issues.

"Our sponsor has very kindly agreed to take the tenancy in his own name, and it will have a condition in it that he can't occupy the property and then that will hopefully get round the issue of creating a secure tenancy.

"We also know our sponsor is a very well-known celebrity figure with substantial assets, and I think he would not be particularly interested in any event of taking a secure tenancy of a small little house in Watlington.

"So we think the risk of creating a secure tenancy is almost non-existent."

The meeting was told that the Ukrainian family originally occupying the cottage has moved out, but it is hoped other refugees will move in from September.

You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.