Residents in the small Oxfordshire village of Piddington have voted by a commanding margin to symbolically break away from Britain, staging the referendum in opposition to plans to accommodate more than 1,000 asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.
Piddington Parish Council revealed the outcome at 7am on Tuesday, following a village-wide vote held the previous day on whether the community should “secede” from the UK.
A total of 312 ballots were counted, representing 92 per cent of those issued. Of those, 285 residents backed independence, 26 voted against it and one ballot paper was spoiled.
Although the referendum carries no legal weight and will not alter Piddington’s status within the UK, organisers hope it will draw Westminster’s attention to concerns over the proposed asylum accommodation at the former Ministry of Defence site in Bicester.
The vote comes while the Government’s planning application for the development is still being assessed.
The Home Office has applied for temporary permission to use the former Bicester Garrison. Its plans include modular housing, health and welfare services, new roads, security measures and recreation space for as many as 1,256 people.
The proposal is currently subject to a formal consultation, with members of the public able to submit representations until September 17.
If approved, the number of asylum seekers housed at the site would exceed three times Piddington’s population, which stands at roughly 350 residents.
Villagers launched the campaign after raising concerns about the scale of the project, arguing that local roads and infrastructure are not capable of supporting the planned development.
Piddington, Oxfordshire, announces the result of its symbolic independence referendum.
Residents attend a parish council meeting in the village hall in Piddington yesterday
Piddington’s women campaigned against plans to house 1,250 asylum seekers in their village
Pensioner Herbert Owen, known locally as Herbie, described the referendum as the ‘Battle of Britain’ after casting his vote.
The 76-year-old said: ‘It means everything our grandparents, our parents fought for – today is the Battle of Britain. This isn’t just about Piddington, this is about our whole country. This Government is destabilising our country.
‘Wherever they put these people, in camps, in HMOs (houses in multiple occupation), or whatever, they’re ruining people’s lives.’
Mr Owen said Piddington was a ‘wonderful little village’ and that it had changed little since he moved there 33 years ago.
Parish council chairman Tim McNally said villagers had been driven to holding the referendum because they felt the Government had failed to engage with their concerns.
‘They actually have played every possible trick in the book to avoid engagement,’ he said. ‘If we’ve got to do something, it has to be proportionate, and that is not proportionate – that is us having to assimilate into them, not them assimilating into us.’
The referendum follows an earlier vote in July in which 96 per cent of those who took part backed holding an independence referendum.
The date of that vote, July 4, was deliberately chosen because it is associated with the American Declaration of Independence.
Residents have since stepped up their campaign against the asylum plans.
Last week, 133 women from Piddington wrote to female MPs warning that their lives could be transformed if the plans went ahead.
The letter said: ‘life as we know it will be destroyed’ if the plans succeed.
‘We will not feel safe walking our streets. We are already living in fear,’ they wrote.
More than 20 women have also reportedly signed up for self-defence classes after residents said they had been advised by police to take precautions.
A protest sign pictured outside the Bicester Ministry of Defence site in Oxfordshire
A blank ballot paper in Piddington
Residents gather waiting for the results to arrive
Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe outside the village hall in Piddington
A protest sign is seen (bottom right) outside Bicester military camp this week
Louise Brooker, 51, said the village would effectively be ‘on lockdown’ if the asylum accommodation went ahead.
‘I won’t feel safe walking along the road,’ she told The Sun. ‘And that’s in the daylight. In the winter here, when it’s dark at 4pm, the very few streetlights that we have don’t stay on all night.
‘So the village is completely pitch black so in effect we are going to be in lockdown because everyone is going to be scared to leave their homes.’
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Melise Witkin, 59, said: ‘This is not about being rich or poor, this is about safety. People have worked really hard throughout their lives to live in this village.
‘It is not such a rich or poor village. I just don’t think that is a conversation to be had. This is about safety.
‘We are 356 people in the village with 46 children and 1,250 men turning up is a recipe for disaster. People walk their dogs, children play, I just think it is madness.
‘This is about safety, nothing more. Even for them [the asylum seekers], along that road there is no pavement, there are no street lights. We just have to be realistic.’
The road access has been a particular concern.
Parish councillor Mike Nixon said the proposed site has no pedestrian access areas and that the Government had suggested asylum seekers could be given high-visibility jackets while walking along a busy road.
He said: ‘The nearest path is about a mile and a quarter away, down a very busy road that’s unlit.’
The Government’s own travel plan describes pedestrian access as ‘limited’ and says travelling on foot is ‘not recommended’. It adds that cycling and public transport options may be provided.
The Government has stressed that the former military site would be designed to be largely self-contained to minimise its impact on the surrounding community.
A Home Office spokesman said the Government is working to ‘fairly house asylum seekers’ across the country as it closes asylum hotels.
‘As part of the process, we engage with local authorities and police forces to ensure the safety and security of those in the surrounding area,’ the spokesman added.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said the Government was ‘working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country’.
Reform’s Suella Braverman backed the residents. She is pictured speaking to one of them
A sign for the village of Piddington is pictured next to another saying ‘350 residents, 1250 proposed, nearly 4x our village population’ – in reference to local objections to a government plan to house some 1,200 asylum seekers at a nearby Ministry of Defence (MoD) site
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp (right) and shadow minister for women and equalities Joy Morrissey (left) speak with residents in the village
An ariel view of the village of Piddington in Oxfordshire
They said the government was ‘engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities and we’ve saved taxpayers more than £1bn on asylum support costs since the election’.
‘The Home Office has submitted an application to obtain planning permission to use the Bicester site for asylum accommodation, but it remains the case that no final decision has been taken on the site’s future use,’ the spokesman added.
The Home Office first announced the Bicester proposal in June as part of its efforts to reduce reliance on asylum hotels and move people into alternative accommodation.
The current planning application is for up to 1,256 people and says the proposed use would be temporary.
The Home Office has stressed that submitting the application does not mean a final decision has been taken, with the proposal still subject to planning, due diligence and other approvals.
The referendum has nevertheless attracted national political attention.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he would support other communities seeking to hold similar symbolic votes, while Reform MP Rupert Lowe told reporters outside Piddington village hall that the referendum should be ‘lauded’.
He said: ‘I think if we’re going to stop this, the people have to rise up and say they’ve had enough, and they’re not going to put up with this.’
Former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman also visited the village before the vote.
She said: ‘This will dramatically transform the character of the village. These are the wrong plans for this village, and you know only harm and damage will come from it.
‘I applaud the efforts of these women to make their voices heard. They’ve spoken very powerfully, and they are the reason I’m here. I stand with them.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp also visited residents and said: ‘The mothers and grandmothers of Piddington are clearly terrified for the safety of their daughters and granddaughters, because we know young male illegal immigrants are disproportionately likely to commit sex offences and rape.
‘Being here underlines how important it is to kick out this Labour Government and leave the ECHR, which would enable us to deport illegal immigrants upon arrival, instead of imposing them on places like Piddington.’
The Government has not yet made a final decision on the future of the Bicester site.
And despite Piddington’s symbolic declaration of independence, the village remains legally part of the United Kingdom.
For residents, however, the vote was intended to demonstrate the strength of feeling over a development which they say would fundamentally alter their community.