Asylum camp approved near Piddington village that voted to leave UK in protest

A new asylum camp has been approved near a village in rural Oxfordshire that ‘left the UK’ over the plans.

Piddington held the vote in September as the government eyed up MOD Bicester to place 1,256 lone male asylum seekers.

MP Greg Smith announced on Facebook this evening that Housing Secretary Angela Rayner had approved the controversial scheme.

Smith said the decision showed the Government ‘don’t give a stuff’ about residents of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

‘This is totally outrageous and proves this government don’t give two hoots about us here in Bucks,’ he said.

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A view of a protest sign outside the ex-military base MoD Bicester in Oxfordshire where residents in nearby Piddington are due to hold a referendum on whether it should remain part of the UK after the Government said it wanted to set up a migrant camp at the former military base. The village of around 350 residents will hold the referendum on the Tuesday, with the results announced by the Parish Council at 7am on the Wednesday. Picture date: Monday September 14, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Local residents pose with a "Principality of Piddington" sign in the village of Piddington, Oxfordshire, after they voted overwhelmingly to become an independent state in a symbolic "referendum". The village of around 350 residents held the vote after the Government said it wanted to set up a migrant camp close by. Picture date: Wednesday September 16, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

‘I will keep working on two fronts – firstly to explore every avenue to get this decision overturned and secondly work with our police to ensure our villages are properly protected when the camp is opened up.

In her letter, Rayner said she had approved the project ‘subject to conditions’.

Her Tory counterpart, shadow home secretary Chris Philip, called the move ‘sickening’.

‘I have met many women from the village who are scared for their safety but Angela Rayner doesn’t care,’ the Croydon South MP wrote on X.

Wrong Plan Wrong Site, a group campaigning against the MOD Bicester site, told the decision ignored ‘crucial matters’.

The government, it added, failed to address issues about the site’s ‘safety, suitability or deliverability’.

Chair Janet Chamdal said: ‘We are extremely disappointed that the Government has granted planning permission to MOD Bicester Site A, despite more than 3,000 public objections and significant concerns raised by statutory authorities, including Oxfordshire County Council.

‘The decision grants permission, but it does not resolve fundamental questions about the site’s safety, suitability or deliverability.’

‘Our message remains simple: prove it works before you proceed’, she added.

Proposals to house 1,256 lone male asylum seekers at MOD Bicester had caused uproar with local villagers in Piddington.

W8media. w8media Piddington feature. The Oxfordshire village of Piddington , where the villagers are up in arms over the proposed migrant centre being built next to their tiny village. Please see story for more info. Photographed: 16/09/2026.

The matter was so contentious it triggered a symbolic independence referendum in which 285 residents voted for the ‘Principality of Piddington’.

Piddington locals told Metro at the time that house values as well as the safety of children were reasons for objecting to the accommodation.

‘We are terrified. Having a thousand men so close to the play park where families and children gather is just wrong,’ said one.

‘It’s not about Nimbyism, the government are just not listening.’

Several other sites have been earmarked for camps by the Home Office, which is pushing to move asylum seekers out of hotels.

These include plots of land in Barnham, Suffolk, and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.

Returning officer Susannah Parden announces the result of a symbolic "referendum" in the village of Piddington, Oxfordshire

Officials previously said £1billion of taxpayers’ money would be saved by closing every asylum hotel in the country.

has contacted the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for comment.

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Original source Asylum camp approved near Piddington village that voted to leave UK in protest

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