Villagers hold referendum over plan to house migrants in ex-military base

An Oxfordshire village is holding a symbolic independence referendum in protest at plans to house more than 1,000 migrants at a former military base.

The proposal, which would mean 1,256 male asylum seekers moving into the base near Piddington in Oxfordshire has sparked anger and fear among many village residents.

Senior minister Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged “none of this is pleasant” but the disused military site was more suitable than housing asylum seekers in hotels.

There was “no imaginary place these people can go”, he said.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds defended the plan to use the military base to house migrants (David Parry/PA)

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “Where in the UK would want more of this? We’ve got to share this throughout the entire nation.”

Mr Reynolds said “I think a former military site is a far more suitable location” than a hotel in a town or city centre.

While the asylum seekers are not detained “you can more easily see who’s coming and going from a site like that”.

Mr Reynolds said the Government was grappling with a system that was in chaos following Tory decisions to allow numbers to build up ahead of the planned Rwanda deportation scheme which would have seen them sent to the African nation.

He said: “None of this is pleasant. None of this is easy.

“It comes from the fact that the system was completely out of control.

“None of this was being dealt with because there was this imaginary proposition that somehow people were going to be sent to Rwanda.”

On July 4, marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, 96% of Piddington voters backed holding the unofficial referendum.

The vote on Tuesday will invite residents to express whether their village should become independent from the UK.

A view of the ex-military base MoD Bicester in Oxfordshire (Joe Giddens/PA)

The Government wants to use the Urgent Crown Development Process which allows Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to bypass local planning authorities.

On Monday, about 20 women gathered in Piddington to meet shadow home secretary Chris Philp, shadow minister for women and equalities Joy Morrissey and Reform UK MPs Sarah Pochin and Suella Braverman.

Ms Morrissey, Ms Pochin and Ms Braverman were three of the four MPs, with Conservative MP Sarah Bool, to respond to an open letter from 133 female village residents to all 266 female MPs.

Zach, 10 months, and female residents of Piddington (Joe Giddens/PA)

In the letter, the group of women said they faced a “crisis”, adding “our safety, security and freedoms will be under threat”.

Heidi Meakin, 61, a recently widowed Piddington resident, was one of the women behind the letter, and joined the group at the village green on Monday.

She told the Press Association she moved to the village because it was quiet, but would no longer feel safe there if the site went ahead.

She said: “I wouldn’t leave my front door unlocked like I do. I would be reluctant to come down here and walk my dog.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp, shadow minister for women and equalities Joy Morrissey (right) and residents of Piddington look through the wire fence at the former military base (Joe Giddens/PA)

“This is where all of us come and walk our dogs, meet people, and the kids come down here and play football, and that will change, that will completely change.

“Change the dynamics of the village, change the dynamics of how we feel, and even our daily routine.”

Gloria Brown, 69, who has lived in Piddington for 23 years, said she would stop litter-picking in the village if plans went ahead, something she takes “lots of pride” in doing.

“All my friends in the village call me Madame Cholet,” Ms Brown said. “I wouldn’t be able to do that any more.

“I do it on my own sometimes.”

She added: “How ever am I going to get my mental health back to scale? Because it’s going to make me feel imprisoned in my own village.

“I’ve felt very emotional about it just lately, and it’s just not correct, and it’s totally unfair.”

Piddington’s population stood at 358 in 2021, according to the latest Census data available.