The tiny Oxfordshire village where asylum seekers could outnumber locals

Ever since its inhabitants last month announced an intention to hold a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom over plans to house asylum seekers on an ex-MoD site on their doorstep, Piddington has liked to be known as “the village that roared”. This week, as the Oxfordshire community baked in the heatwave, the predominant atmosphere was more one of quiet indignation in the wake of a call from the Prime Minister for “wealthier areas” in Britain to house more migrants arriving across the English Channel. Shorts The village – a pretty, winding strip of rural England punctuated by a village hall and a medieval church – sits roughly half a mile from Site A of the Bicester Garrison. This mothballed Ministry of Defence (MoD) logistics base is where the Government wants to house 1,250 male asylum seekers as part of its promise to end the use of hotels to accommodate migrants. For Piddington’s 350 or so residents, however, it is an isolated, ill-chosen site sat cheek by jowl with a community who were politely bristling at the apparent suggestion that their opposition to the project is borne from a desire to protect a privileged quietude. The Government wants to house 1,250 male asylum seekers at the former MoD base in Oxfordshire (Photo: Cahal Milmo) ‘This isn’t about wealth – we have a right to be worried’ As John, a Piddington resident of more than 20 years and one of the few homeowners venturing out in the broiling heat on Wednesday, put it: “This isn’t about wealth, this is about the ability of a very small place to absorb a very large number of people. “The idea that we’re somehow all sat here in big houses and whatever, not wanting to do our bit, is actually a bit offensive. There are also sorts of people in this community and they have a right to be worried about what is proposed, regardless of their income.” Piddington, situated a few miles south of Bicester, is not normally the sort of place that actively seeks to be part of the national discourse. The closest thing to a source of drama that could be found in its midst when The i Paper visited this week was a notice outside the village hall seeking to reunite a “freedom-loving” tortoise found wandering the streets with its owner. Support from Elon Musk – and John Cleese But for better or worse, the village has found itself in national and international headlines in recent weeks after its parish council announced plans to hold a vote leaving the UK altogether over the asylum seeker accommodation plans. The neat name signs on white picket fencing that sit at the entrances to the village are now accompanied by additional boards announcing: “NO TO BICESTER MOD ASYLUM CENTRE.” A formal referendum on the eye-catching proposal to become the “Principality of Piddington” is now scheduled for mid-September after an indicative vote last month suggested 96 per cent of inhabitants were in favour of the plebiscite. A website explaining the vote has the address: thevillagethatroared.org. The proposition faces practical challenges in the shape of the fact that the law prevents communities voluntarily exiting Britain. It would take an Act of Parliament for a newly-minted Oxfordshire micro-state to come into existence. But as a means of drawing attention to what organisers say is the democratic deficit exposed by an alleged lack of consultation or influence over the plans for Site A, it has been wildly successful, drawing support and retweets from figures including Elon Musk and actor John Cleese. Locals believe there has been a lack of consultation over the plans for Site A (Photo: Cahal Milmo) ‘Cannot have situation where only poorest communities receive all asylum seekers’ When asked this week about Piddington, Andy Burnham said: “I have begun to become aware of the campaign from Piddington, and I will listen to what people are saying and respond to the concerns that they are putting forward.” The Prime Minister said the Bicester Garrison scheme, one of three former MoD sites in England where it is proposed to house a total of 3,750 migrants, was about creating “secure space” for asylum seeker accommodation. The Home Office later clarified that while the Bicester site would be self- contained, those housed on it would be free to come and go. Burnham added: “It’s obviously going to be challenging, but I am prepared always to listen to people, to work with people and to pick up legitimate concerns, and I will address those concerns. “I do have to say 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.” ‘Simply isn’t the infrastructure or resources’ For Tim McNally, the energetically determined chairman of Piddington Parish Council, the Prime Minister’s engagement with the topic was to be warmly welcomed, not least since the only formal response that it had had from No 10 hitherto had been an email suggesting the village get in touch with the MoD to voice its concerns. McNally, who was to be found chatting affably on Piddington’s main drag with drivers who stop and ask for updates on the campaign, told The i Paper: “We’re not asking to be made exempt from responsibility. Genuine asylum seekers should receive the proper support they need. “The issue here is about the scale of what is proposed, the location and the process. We may be an affluent area but that does not mean there is anything like the capacity to deal with what is being proposed. “If this camp was being opened in London, it would represent an increase of a fraction of 1 per cent of the population. Here it will mean an increase of 350 per cent. And there simply isn’t the infrastructure or services to support that.” The councillor offered the recent case of a neighbour who was informed of a four-hour wait for an ambulance after suffering a stroke as evidence of the existing strain on resources. The Home Office has insisted it will listen to concerns raised by communities neighbouring the proposed accommodation sites at Bicester as well as Barnham in Suffok, and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire. A spokesperson said: “The concerns of communities are central to our immigration reforms, which is why we are working with local authorities and others to fairly disperse asylum seekers across basic accommodation including ex-military sites.” The village of Piddington is currently home to 350 or so people (Photo: Anita Maric/SWNS) Emergency planning powers But residents in Piddington are concerned that the pressure on ministers to be seen to be dealing with the migrant crisis, and in particular the Government’s promise to end the use of hotels by 2029, will see the Bicester scheme effectively imposed on the community. There are concerns that the Government will bypass the local authority planning process and instead use special powers – known as a Crown Development Order – to hand the final decision to Whitehall officials at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Amid rumours that work on installing utilities such as water and electricity for Site A could start at the beginning of next month, McNally has received enquiries about his campaign from other communities and this week addressed a meeting in the Essex village of Wethersfield, which is already home to an asylum seeker camp on a former RAF base. McNally said: “The idea of our referendum is not about a trick or a piece of political theatre. It’s actually a means of showing what is happening in this country when people feel a referendum is their only means of being heard when they don’t want something that is going to change their lives imposed upon them.”