Oxfordshire County Council lodges objection to Bicester asylum centre plans
The council has sent a letter to the government outlining several serious concerns about the proposals.
Oxfordshire County Council have raised objections to the plans for an asylum seeker centre to be built on former MOD land at Bicester. They also state that the handling of the proposals has “undermined confidence from the outset”.
The plan was first announced by the Home Office in the summer, with the council saying that they were given less than 24 hours' notice and there was no prior engagement with local residents or partners.
The Deputy Leader of the county council, Councillor Neil Fawcett, has sent a letter of objection to the government. In the letter, a range of serious concerns about the proposals at the MOD Bicester Site A are set out.
In the letter Councillor Fawcett said: “This application gives limited consideration to the impact on nearby communities, despite acknowledging possible anxiety, protest, demonstration or disorder associated with a non-detained site."
“The proximity to the Buckinghamshire border also gives the proposals wider impact. Thames Valley Police, who have already had to engage with tensions before construction has begun, should be provided with additional financial support to keep people safe."
“The council has not seen a sufficiently developed community engagement plan from government to prevent and respond to misinformation and community tensions. Decisions of this scale must be developed transparently and in genuine partnership with local communities, which has not happened here.”
The letter raises objections including:
- Unresolved questions about flood risk, land contamination, wildfire, hazardous materials and risks relating to fire protection between temporary accommodation units.
- Poor connections to surrounding settlements and lack of access to buses, footways, cycleways and street lighting.
- The lack of locally agreed arrangements for disease prevention and outbreak management alongside greater clarity on vaccination, prescribing, isolation capacity, contact tracing, room and occupancy and the availability of spare rooms should there be an outbreak.
- Insufficient detail on mental health support and privacy for people experiencing poor mental wellbeing or post traumatic stress.
- Questions about whether shared modular accommodation can remain safe and suitable during increasingly extreme temperatures.
- The lack of clarity about the range, capacity and quality of welfare and health services that will be provided on the site nor how adult social care, safeguarding, public health, fire and rescue, hospitals, transport and other local services would be assessed, funded and mitigated – with the same concern applying to local voluntary and community organisations.