Women 'living in fear' over MoD asylum housing plans

A group of female villagers say "life as we know it will be destroyed" if plans to house asylum seekers at a nearby former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site succeed.

Earlier this year, the Home Office announced plans to house 1,256 men at MoD Bicester, saying the proposal would bring the system "back under control".

But the plans have proved contentious locally, including in nearby Piddington where a symbolic independence referendum in opposition to the proposals is being held next week.

On Thursday, a group of 133 women from the village issued an open letter to every female Member of Parliament to share their concerns.

The group wrote: "As fellow women, you will understand the serious risks this will expose us to.

"Our safety, our security and our freedoms will be under threat. Life as we know it will be destroyed.

"We will not feel safe walking our streets. We are already living in fear."

In a statement regarding the letter, the Home Office said the "concerns of communities" were central to its immigration reforms.

"That is why we are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites," a spokesperson said

"We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities, and we have saved taxpayers over £1bn on asylum support costs since the election."

Planning documents released by the Home Office last week said the MoD Bicester development "aims to be as self-contained as possible with Service Users having access to a range of essential facilities on site".

"Consequently, the need to travel will be significantly reduced," but the documents added Home Office shuttle buses and public transport could be used to access nearby towns and villages.

The proposals make up part of a Labour pledge to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels, a costly form of accommodation that has become a focal point for anti-migrant protests.

As of March this year, 20,885 (21%) asylum seekers were in hotels and 72,768 (75%) were in other accommodation as they awaited decisions.

The government's plans in Bicester are currently going through an initially unplanned public consultation, which ends on 17 September.

It had previously made an Urgent Crown Development application, a special procedure to fast track the process due to its "national importance".

In 2005, the then Labour government abandoned plans for an asylum seekers' accommodation centre on the same site.