New centre for asylum seekers approved

The deputy prime minister has given planning approval for an
accommodation centre for up to 750 asylum seekers at Bicester
in Oxfordshire.

The government announced in May last year that it had identified
three sites for accommodation centres at Bicester, RAF Newton in
Nottinghamshire and Throckmorton Airfield in Worcestershire.

The Throckmorton site has since been dismissed.But the home
office is awaiting a planning decision on the proposed site at
Newton, and will shortly decide on whether to apply for planning
approval for another site at HMS Daedalus in Gosport.

Home office minister Beverley Hughes said: “I realise
members of the local community have concerns about the centre,
although I do not accept that an accommodation centre will be a
detriment to the local area.”

A website for the public to access information about the centre
has been set up at: www.bicester-centre.co.uk