Defence minister Luke Pollard said he did not want any migrants housed in temporary accommodation but that it is necessary while reforms to the asylum system are ongoing
Villages in Piddington in September symbolically voted to leave the UK over the plans(Image: Shutterstock)
Plans to house migrants in a former military base are an “important part” of efforts to close all asylum hotels, a defence minister has said.
Luke Pollard said he did not want any migrants housed in temporary accommodation but that it is necessary while reforms to the asylum system are ongoing.
He defended the decision by Communities Secretary Angela Rayner to approve full planning permission for the Ministry of Defence site in Bicester and insisted it would not have been offered if it “severely affected or negatively affected military outputs”. Piddington’s parish council chairman warned ministers to brace for a legal challenge.
Residents in the Oxfordshire village symbolically voted to leave the UK in September over proposals to house 1,256 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military base. The protest vote gained national attention, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage among politicians to throw their weight behind the village.
Labour has vowed to end the use of asylum hotels and tackle the backlog, but demand for asylum accommodation remains high. It means the Government must find alternative sites such as former military barracks. The use of asylum hotels, which can often be located in town centres, spiralled under the Tories.
Mr Pollard said he recognises temporary asylum accommodation “has an impact on its local community”, telling Sky News on Friday: “Ideally, I don’t want to have any temporary accommodation. So I want an asylum system that can process people quickly and get them out the door. That is what Shabana Mahmoud, the Home Secretary, is working towards at the moment.
“But we recognise that any temporary asylum accommodation has an impact on its local community. That’s one of the reasons why, you know, if I was doing this interview two years ago, you would have been asking me questions about why aren’t you closing asylum hotels faster? What about the impact on those communities?”
He added: “I want to see every asylum hotel closed and this is an important part of how the government delivers that.”
Pressed on the choice of MoD Bicester for the site, he added: “As part of the process, we’ve reviewed actually a large number of sites to see which ones were suitable to be transferred to the Home Office for temporary accommodation… We would not be offering any locations to the Home Office, if it severely affected or negatively affected military outputs.”
Ms Rayner on Thursday evening approved full planning permission the former barracks to be turned into accommodation for detained asylum seekers.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “The Secretary of State has granted full planning permission for the temporary, phased use of the former MoD Bicester storage site. As the decision may be subject to legal challenge, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “Planning permission allows us to continue to progress the use of MoD Bicester. However, a final decision to proceed is yet to be taken. The Government is working on a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation across the country, with over £1billion saved in costs since the election.
“This includes closing all asylum hotels and moving to alternative accommodation, including former military sites. These are designed to be self-contained, with 24/7 security and CCTV, to minimise the impact on the local community.” There is now a six-week window when the decision can be face a legal challenge.
Piddington’s parish council chairman Tim McNally on Friday warned the Government to be braced for a legal challenge. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the village could also apply the new Hillsborough Law.
Asked how the village would respond to the decision, he said: “There’s going to be many actions, you will see. We will disclose that as we move forward. Today is a day of reflection, and we’ll work out where we plan to go from this point. But I will say, the Hillsborough Law is there for a reason, and we’re going to apply it.”
Asked if ministers should be braced for a legal challenge, he said: “Absolutely, absolutely.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Ms Rayner had “betrayed” the people of Piddington, despite asylum hotel use surging under the Tories. At its peak under the Conservatives in September 2023 – when current Reform MP Suella Braverman was running the asylum system – the number stood at over 56,000.
Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller, who represents Bicester and Woodstock, said he was “deeply disappointed” in the approbal of the site after concerns were raised by residents and local councils.
