Police chief tells Mahmood to scrap Bicester asylum camp

Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood demanding she reconsider plans to house 1,256 male asylum seekers at MOD Bicester, warning the open site will raise crime and leave local taxpayers footing the bill.

In the letter he told Ms Mahmood: “Residents in the villages and town near your proposed site at Bicester have genuine concerns about the impact of these proposals on their safety and security. I will continue to work with the Chief Constable to ensure the strongest possible police response, but we will need additional resources from the Home Office, and given the open nature of the site, we know that there will be an increased risk to the public.”

Barber made plain that the area must “expect an increase in crime” from the Government’s proposals. Experience across Thames Valley shows crime already occurs between asylum seekers in hotels, and a camp of this size near Bicester will only magnify the problem.

He went further: “It is naïve to consider that such a large population of single men will not bring with it a greater risk of violent and sexual offences. Yesterday, the Minister said that public safety was and always will be right at the forefront of government thinking on housing asylum seekers. This is not how local residents feel.”

Having spoken with Thames Valley Police, Barber stressed officers will have to increase local presence simply to reassure residents and tackle the inevitable rise in offences. Without significant extra funding from the Home Office that extra cover will come at an unacceptable cost to local taxpayers and cut policing elsewhere.

Piddington women take fight to Westminster

He urged the Home Office to drop the MOD Bicester asylum camp altogether. If ministers press ahead they must give full cost recovery to Thames Valley Police. Britain cannot keep dumping large numbers of single men into quiet villages and then expect local forces to absorb the risk without the cash to match.

Communities have a right to feel safe in their own streets. An open former military site holding well over a thousand men is not a minor planning tweak; it is a direct challenge to the security of nearby towns and villages. Ministers who talk about public safety while ignoring the people who live next door are not listening.

Earlier this week MPs rejected a Conservative motion to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deport illegal migrants. The vote was 309 to 113 against, leaving the Piddington plans intact. Louise Brooker told GB News that women in the small Oxfordshire village “fear for their safety” and “fear for the safety of our families”.

She said the problem is not confined to Piddington: “We speak for all women in the UK. It’s not just a problem that is happening in Piddington, it is happening across the country and the Government need to get a grip of the out-of-control immigration that we are seeing as a country. It’s a Government failure on your doorstep. They can’t control the border, and now you’re left feeling unsafe in your community.”

A Home Office spokesman said the Government is working on a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation, claiming over £1 billion saved since the election by closing hotels and moving to former military sites with 24/7 security and CCTV. No final decision has been taken on MOD Bicester, but if it proceeds they will work with local authorities and police. Local people and their police commissioner are not reassured. The letter from Barber puts the cost, the crime risk and the open nature of the site squarely on Mahmood’s desk. What happens next depends on whether the Home Office finally listens to the force that will have to police it.

Original source: GB News