Reform UK Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf has condemned Angela Rayner’s decision to use emergency powers to approve plans for a migrant camp next to Piddington, Oxfordshire.
The Housing Secretary granted planning permission yesterday for accommodation for 1,256 male asylum seekers at the former MoD Bicester site in Oxfordshire, bypassing both the council and fierce opposition from residents.
“Over 1,200 unvetted illegal migrant men are being dumped in Piddington”, Yusuf said.
“They will outnumber the women of Piddington by eight to one.”
The men would not be detained, and would be free to leave the camp and wander the surrounding area.
Rayner’s approval of the site came despite her own acknowledgement that the development would lead to adverse effects on the surrounding community.
Her decision accepted that there would be potential issues with safeguarding, community cohesion and public safety. She also recognised the additional demand that would be placed on healthcare, emergency services and other public services.
Yet she has forced the plans through anyway, apparently deciding that the need for migrant accommodation carries greater weight than the welfare of Piddington’s residents.
Piddington is home to just 350 people. That means, at full capacity, the camp’s population would outnumber the entire village by more than three to one.
“Tory and Labour governments have betrayed their own people,” Yusuf said.
Villagers have spent months fighting the plans. In September, they even held a symbolic referendum on leaving the United Kingdom, with 285 voting in favour and just 26 against.
But their opposition has failed to force the government to listen. The planning application was fast-tracked through the Urgent Crown Development process, ignoring 3,000 objections – including from councils, the NHS and the Police and Crime Commissioner.
The pressure on local services is already a major concern, with the NHS warning that nearby GP practices have no spare capacity. And crucial details about access to the site and sewage disposal have also been left for later approval.
Residents are refusing to back down. Parish council chairman Tim McNally has warned that ministers should expect a legal challenge within the next six weeks.
Reform UK is standing with the people of Piddington. Under a Reform government, illegal immigrants would be detained and deported, with a new UK Deportation Command to identify, track down and remove those living illegally in Britain. Reform UK would also leave the European Convention on Human Rights and scrap the Human Rights Act (1998) in order to cut through the legal red tape currently preventing deportations.
As Yusuf pledged: “Reform will detain and deport all of these men.”