Information below from CABIRC...
In May 2008, the UK government announced plans to increase immigration detention
capacity in the UK. An 800-place centre is to be built across the road from Bullingdon
Prison.
The ‘Accommodation Centre’ all over again?
You may recall Home Office efforts to build an Accommodation Centre in 2002.
Planning permission was unanimously refused by Cherwell District Council, whose
decision was upheld at public inquiry. The application went to judicial review, and,
finally, to the Court of Appeal. Work began on the site in 2005. But objections to the
planning proposals continued. In June 2005, government plans were abandoned. An
estimated £29.1 million of public money was wasted on this aborted project.
Local popular opposition was the key to this success. It is the
key to challenging the new detention centre.
Coalition against Bullingdon Immigration Removal Centre
A local campaign group, known as ‘CABIRC’, has been established to oppose the new
centre on grounds that:
• indefinite detention is inhumane and an abuse of human rights
• expansion of detention is unnecessary given the falling number of asylum
applications
• the centre would be an enormous and ill-affordable public expense, costing
an annual estimated £32 million to run
• there are planning and environmental objections to the proposal, as there
were to the Accommodation Centre.
What can you do?
The planning application was received by Cherwell District Council on 8 December. A
decision is likely to be recommended at the meeting of the South Area Planning
Committee on either 19 February or 12 March 2009.
Residents are encouraged to:
• study the planning application (ref. no. 08/02511/F), available online via the
planning portal, http://cherweb.cherwell-
dc.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/DcApplication/weeklylist_searchform.aspx
• write to oppose it, to your district councillors, and to Cherwell District Council
(Planning), Bodicote House, White Post Road, Bodicote, Banbury OX15 4AA
• write to Tony Baldry MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA
• write a letter to the local press: bicesteradvertiser.letters@nqo.com;
letters@oxfordtimes.co.uk
• join CABIRC to campaign against the centre, or make a donation.
Reasons to oppose the application
• unnecessary: there are already two designated prisons for foreign national
prisoners; and the number of asylum seekers is a quarter of the number in 2000
• a rural location, not identified as a site for employment growth – development
here undermines local planning policy
• a large unsustainable site, with poor public transport: unacceptable increases in
traffic congestion; a danger to pedestrians
• a brightly-lit and noisy site causing light and noise pollution in a rural area
• environmental impact: including harm to the countryside, wildlife habitats, water
supply and disposal in an area with existing water problems
• human rights and safety considerations: the history of nearby Campsfield IRC
shows that protests by detainees, fires and escapes are to be expected.
For further information, please see www.cabirc.org.uk, or email info@cabirc.org.uk.
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