‘Extraordinary’ lack of consultation with locals over plans to house asylum seekers in barracks, MP claims

The government has been accused of failing to properly consult local authorities about a plan to house refugees in former military barracks, while a local MP claimed he was only told of the plans in a ten-minute phone call on Thursday afternoon.

On Friday the Home Office announced that planning permission had been granted to house 3,750 asylum seekers at Ministry of Defense facilities at Bicester in Oxfordshire, Barnham in Suffolk and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.

But Liberal Democrat MP for Bicester and Woodstock Calum Miller accused the government of failing to properly consult with local communities, describing it as “extraordinary”.

“I got a call from the Home Office minister at around 2pm yesterday,” he told BBC Radio 4.

Asked if this was later than he would have liked to have been notified, he said: “I think it’s extraordinary. I’ve just heard in your newsletter that the Home Office has said discussions have started. “It’s not really possible to consult the local community about a very serious proposal if the phone call, which lasted about 10 minutes, was the start of discussions.

“And I know that local authorities only received letters from the government late yesterday afternoon, so I am really concerned that this is a government that is looking for a change in its own leadership rather than a government that is serious about grappling with a very important problem.”

However, Home Office sources said Mr Miller’s claims were “not true at all” and stressed that discussions with local officials and local MPs were continuing. They pointed out that the main purpose of a planning process is to consult local communities.

Mr Miller questioned “why the government thought it was possible to resettle 12,150 refugees in a community where the nearest village had 370 residents”.

“It’s a remote location,” Mr. Miller explained. “The B-road that goes by doesn’t even have a pavement. The nearest shop is two miles away. The nearest town is Bicester, five miles away.

“I have no idea how the government thought this could be embraced by the community and that both the community and those living on this site could be safe during a period when asylum seekers would have little to do and little money to spend during their days.

“The government has not come to this point with a credible plan for how to manage this site or maintain social cohesion as we see across the country.”

Justice secretary Jake Richards acknowledged the government would face local opposition but insisted ministers would do “whatever it takes”, saying the action was necessary to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

He told BBC Radio 4 Today: “The military areas we are proposing to use… are large areas, more closed areas.

“As we set out today, I understand there will always be opposition to such proposals.”

But he added: “The question to ask politicians when you are in government is what are your priorities?

“And we promised the British people that we would close these hotels that are causing so much anxiety, so much anxiety, so much pain across the country, and we will do that.

“This may mean difficult decisions, but as the Home Secretary has said, we will do whatever it takes to close these hotels, take control of our borders and fix the asylum system, and we will do it.”

The Home Office is apparently trying to revive efforts to use the disused RAF base in a small village near York after it was forced to abandon plans to house 1,500 refugees there in 2022 in the face of opposition from local residents and legal challenges from the council.

The government also plans to expand the use of existing facilities at Crowborough in East Sussex by 2030 and existing facilities at Wethersfield in Essex from 2027 onwards.

Labor has promised to stop using asylum hotels by the next election.

The number of asylum seekers temporarily housed in hotels in the UK has fallen to its lowest level since 2022, when the data was first announced, according to figures published by the Home Office last month.

The number of people staying in such accommodation while awaiting a decision on their asylum applications at the end of March fell 35 percent year on year to 20,885, from 32,326.

The total number rose to 56,018 by the end of September 2023.

The issue of housing people in hotels came to the fore last year with protests outside some sites.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said 20 more hotels were closed.

Imran Hussain of the Refugee Council said: “Moving refugees from unsuitable hotels to unsuitable former military sites is repeating policies that have failed in the recent past, accumulating problems for the next prime minister. It would be wise to rethink this approach.”

The Ministry of Internal Affairs was contacted for comment.