The British government will face a legal challenge over plans to house more than 1,200 asylum seekers at a former military site near Piddington, the village's parish council chairman has said, the BBC reported. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner granted planning permission for the development at the MoD Bicester site after the Home Office used a fast-track route for projects deemed urgently needed and of national importance. Opponents have six weeks to challenge the decision. Parish chairman Tim McNally said ministers should "absolutely" be ready for a legal challenge.
Piddington is a village of about 350 people. In September it symbolically voted to leave the United Kingdom over the planned use of the site, and last month a group called Wrong Plan Wrong Site appealed for a judicial review. A government report said the decision received 3,177 representations against and one in support. Rayner granted permission through an Urgent Crown Development application because "national demand for asylum accommodation remains high." The permission allows demolition of existing buildings, new modular accommodation, and health and welfare facilities.
McNally told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the village could also try to apply the new Hillsborough Law, which, once passed, would create a legally enforceable duty of candour on public officials. He pointed to remarks by Prime Minister Andy Burnham about violence against women and said, "the reality is, is that this is exactly what the government is doing to us here." Melise Witkin, who has lived in the village for six years, said she was "extremely disappointed but not surprised" and asked where 1,200 people would go in a place with no pavements, street lights, pub, or shop. "It's wrong for them, and it's wrong for us," she said. Jo Haw-Cook, a resident for 56 years, said the community is "saddened" but "resilient" and will "fight this as a community."
Defence minister Luke Pollard told LBC there is "a strong sense of feeling" around Bicester, especially in Piddington, and that the plan is "not yet fully locked in and delivered." A Home Office spokesperson said planning permission "allows us to continue to progress the use of MoD Bicester. However, a final decision to proceed is yet to be taken." The government said it is working on a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation, has saved more than £1 billion in costs since the election, and is closing asylum hotels in favor of alternative sites, including former military bases designed to be self-contained, with 24-hour security and CCTV. Permission is not the same as a final go-ahead, and the village is treating the six-week window as its opening to fight the approval in court.