Angela Rayner has granted planning permission for the redevelopment of a former Ministry of Defence site near the village of Piddington in Oxfordshire into an asylum seeker accommodation center.
The approval, which covers the former MoD Bicester storage site, allows for the phased, temporary use of the land to house up to 1,256 asylum seekers, UA.NEWS reported. While the government has cleared the planning hurdle, the Home Office maintains that a final decision on whether to proceed with the activation of the site has not yet been made.
The project is part of a broader government strategy to phase out the use of hotels for asylum seekers, favoring instead self-sufficient, secure facilities that include 24-hour surveillance.
The decision has ignited significant local opposition. In September, residents of Piddington held a symbolic referendum regarding the village’s status as part of the United Kingdom to protest the center; 285 people voted in favor of the move, while 26 voted against it.
The campaign group Wrong Plan Wrong Site has since requested a judicial review in the High Court, challenging both the government’s proposal and an August decision that exempted the project from requiring an environmental impact assessment.
“The department will not be providing further comment on the decision due to the possibility of legal challenge,” the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government stated. The government’s planning permission remains subject to a six-week window during which it can be formally challenged in court.
The Bicester site is one of several former military locations currently under consideration by the Home Office to accommodate asylum seekers.
The Home Office has said that while the planning permission allows for the necessary site preparation to begin, the operational launch of the facility remains contingent on further review. The outcome of the potential judicial review will determine whether the government can proceed with its current timeline for the site’s deployment.
As the legal window for appeals remains open, the future of the Piddington site rests on whether the High Court finds merit in the arguments raised by local activists regarding environmental and planning procedures. The government has yet to confirm a specific date for the commencement of site works.
