Asylum Seekers Are in Desperate Need of Help – This Is the Part British People Are Being Told They Must Play

The Government is facing growing anger over plans to house as many as 1,200 asylum seekers at a former military site near a small Oxfordshire village with a population of only around 400 people.

The proposed accommodation would be located at a former military base near Piddington, outside Bicester. The plan has caused serious concern among local residents, mainly because of the large number of people who could be placed at the site compared with the size of the village.

Home Office minister Anna Turley has defended the proposal. She said the asylum seekers would not actually be housed inside Piddington village but at the former military site nearby.

Ms Turley said the site would provide many of the services the asylum seekers need, meaning they would not have to depend completely on facilities in the village.

“They’re not going to be in the village,” she told LBC. “They will be allowed out, everything they need will be on that site.”

The Government is looking at different ways of reducing its reliance on expensive asylum hotels. Former military bases, industrial sites and student accommodation are among the options being considered as places where larger numbers of asylum seekers could be housed.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has also argued that asylum accommodation should be spread more fairly across the country. He said poorer communities should not be expected to take most of the responsibility while wealthier areas take fewer asylum seekers.

“We cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers,” Mr Burnham said.

He added: “I do believe all parts of the country need to work, to play their part.”

However, many people in Piddington are concerned about the numbers involved. If the site eventually houses around 1,200 asylum seekers, the number of people living there would be roughly three times the current population of the village.

That difference has become one of the biggest reasons for local opposition. Residents fear that placing such a large accommodation centre close to such a small community could put additional pressure on roads, public services and other local facilities.

Opposition to the proposal has become so strong that residents have voted to hold a symbolic referendum on whether the village should leave the UK. Although such a vote would not have the legal power to remove Piddington from the United Kingdom, residents are using it as a way of showing how strongly they feel about the asylum accommodation plan.

Ms Turley said residents would be consulted and that the proper planning process would be followed. She argued that the wider policy was about fairness and making sure asylum accommodation was not repeatedly concentrated in the same parts of the country.

She also stressed that the former military site is outside the village and is expected to operate largely as a self-contained facility.

The disagreement comes as the Government faces increasing pressure over the amount of taxpayers’ money being spent on housing asylum seekers in hotels. Ministers want to reduce the use of hotels, but they still need to find alternative places capable of housing large numbers of people while asylum claims are being dealt with.

Former military sites are seen by the Government as one possible solution because they can potentially accommodate hundreds or even thousands of people in one location. Ministers argue that using these sites could be cheaper than continuing to pay for large numbers of hotel rooms.

But finding suitable locations is proving difficult. Whenever a large accommodation centre is proposed, local residents may raise concerns about the effect it could have on their communities.

That problem is particularly clear in Piddington because of the huge difference between the village population and the number of asylum seekers that could be housed nearby.

Critics argue that putting more than 1,000 people at a site next to a community of around 400 residents could create an unfair burden on the area, even if many services are provided inside the accommodation centre.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has also criticised the proposal. He accused Mr Burnham of putting additional pressure on communities and argued that local people should not have large asylum accommodation sites imposed on them against their wishes.

The Government, however, faces a difficult choice. Ministers want to close costly asylum hotels, but doing that means finding other buildings and sites large enough to accommodate people who would otherwise be placed in hotels.

Large former military bases can provide that space, but plans to use them can quickly lead to strong opposition from nearby residents.

For people living in Piddington, the national debate over asylum accommodation has now become a major local issue. Their biggest concern is simple: a village with only around 400 residents could soon have an asylum accommodation site nearby capable of housing up to 1,200 people.

While ministers say the site would be separate from the village and would provide services for those staying there, many residents remain worried about what such a major change could mean for their small community.