Disappointment expressed at Bicester asylum centre planning decision
Oxfordshire County Council has expressed deep disappointment that planning permission for large scale asylum accommodation at a former military site near Bicester have been approved by the government.
Earlier this year the council raised a series of formal objections to the Home Office’s plans.
The county council sent a letter of objection to the government setting out a range of serious concerns about the proposals at the MOD Bicester Site A.
The Home Office first announced the plan in the summer – giving local authorities less than 24 hours’ notice and with no prior engagement with local residents or partners. It has yet to decide whether to go ahead with the project.
Councillor Kate Gregory said: “This is disappointing news. We will continue to oppose this proposal alongside other councils and the local community.
“This process continues to give limited consideration to the impact on nearby communities. The council has still not seen a sufficiently developed community engagement plan. Decisions of this scale must be developed transparently and in genuine partnership with local communities. This is not happening here.”
"Oxfordshire has a strong record of supporting all people in need, including those who have fled violence and persecution, which aligns with our status as a Council of Sanctuary. That status has no bearing on how many people are accommodated in Oxfordshire or where the Home Office chooses to place them.
“We believe warehousing large numbers of vulnerable people in isolated sites, often with several people to a room, unable to work or volunteer and with limited access to basic services, is contrary to the integration, cohesion, safeguarding and public health policies and principles we aspire to.
“We cannot make this safe for pedestrians or cyclists, we've said there are no pavements. It's not safe. As the transport authority we are deeply concerned by this.”
The letter sent in September raised objections including:
- Poor connections to surrounding settlements and lack of access to buses, footways, cycleways and street lighting
- Unresolved questions about flood risk, land contamination, wildfire, hazardous materials and risks relating to fire protection between temporary accommodation units.
- Questions about whether shared modular accommodation can remain safe and suitable during increasingly extreme temperatures.
- Insufficient detail on mental health support and privacy for people experiencing poor mental wellbeing or post traumatic stress
- The lack of clarity about the range, capacity and quality of welfare and health services that will be provided on the site nor how adult social care, safeguarding, public health, fire and rescue, hospitals, transport and other local services would be assessed, funded and mitigated – with the same concern applying to local voluntary and community organisations.
Oxfordshire County Council has “Council of Sanctuary” status, which involves a commitment to ensuring that anyone placed in the county by the Home Office is treated with basic dignity and humanity.
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