𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Angela Rayner has approved plans to house more than 1,200 migrants next to Piddington. Villagers had been ferociously fighting proposals to house 1,256 asylum seekers next to the tiny Oxfordshire village.

But Ms Rayner, the Communities Secretary, has used emergency powers to grant planning permission.

This means the Home Office can use the site for asylum accommodation if it wants to. Sources have “welcomed” Ms Rayner’s decision, with officials saying it will help create a “fairer distribution of asylum seekers”.

A letter sent to local MP Greg Smith states: “I am writing to inform you that today the Secretary of State has granted planning permission, subject to conditions, for the Home Office’s application described above.”

Mr Smith told the Daily Express: “This is devastating news for my constituents, with many Mid Bucks villages within walking distance of MOD Bicester. This decision proves the Government have not listened to a word we have said, on safety, on cost, on the environmental impacts.

“I will not give up and will work with campaign groups like Wrong Plan Wrong Site to explore every legal route to get this crackpot decision overturned. I will not sit idly by whilst the safety of my constituents, particularly female constituents is put so recklessly at risk by Labour. We need illegal migrants deported, not housed at extortionate cost minutes away from so many rural communities. Enough.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Angela Rayner and the Labour government have betrayed the people of Piddington and Bicester by abusing their emergency powers in this way.

“Using emergency crown planning powers to force a camp for 1,500 young male illegal migrants onto a tiny rural village is sickening. I have met many women from the village who are are scared for their safety but Angela Rayner doesn’t care. Instead of accommodating illegal immigrants, the government should leave the ECHR so illegal immigrants can be rapidly deported.”

Labour wants to house more than 1,200 migrants on the site for at least 10 years.

The villagers of Piddington voted 285 to 26 to “secede from the UK and pursue self-determination” over the plans to house up to 1,256 asylum seekers in the former Ministry of Defence garrison half a mile from the village.

Local campaigners demanded that the scheme be halted until full ecological surveys are completed to determine the potential presence of some of Britain’s rarest and most protected bats and newts on the site.

A Home Office spokesperson 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.