UK approves Piddington asylum centre after protest vote

The British government approved a plan Thursday to convert a former defence facility near Piddington into accommodation for more than 1,200 asylum seekers, despite a symbolic village vote against the project.

The government said Housing and Communities Minister Angela Rayner had granted full planning permission for the temporary, phased use of the former Ministry of Defence Bicester storage site. The site is near Piddington, a village of about 350 people around 25 kilometres from Oxford.

The government plans to house around 1,250 asylum seekers on the site, all single men aged between 18 and 65. It is part of a Labour government plan to rehouse asylum seekers who are currently accommodated in hotels and to open reception centres on former military sites.

Piddington residents held protests during the summer, saying they were worried about safety, particularly women's safety. In a September ballot, 285 of 312 votes were cast in favour of seceding from the United Kingdom and “pursuing self-determination.”

The vote had no legal weight but drew international attention and briefly put the village at the centre of Britain's asylum and immigration debate.

Greg Smith, an opposition Conservative MP whose constituency is near the site, condemned the decision and said he would challenge it.