‘We will not stop. We will not accept it.’
Those were the defiant words of Tim McNally, chairman of Piddington Parish Council, who on Friday accused the Government of ‘deceit, lies and manipulation’ after Housing Secretary Angela Rayner approved planning permission for an ‘asylum accommodation camp’ beside the local playing field.
Two months ago, residents of the Oxfordshire village made international headlines when they voted by 285 to 26 in a symbolic referendum to declare ‘independence’ from the UK, reflecting the depth of their anger over plans announced in June.
But the protest vote fell on deaf ears in Westminster.
The Ministry of Defence site at Bicester, which has no running water, electricity or functioning sewage system, is due to accommodate 1,256 male migrants. It is expected to remain open for at least a decade, at an estimated cost to taxpayers of around £1.25billion.
The migrants will outnumber the secluded village’s 350 residents by four to one, and local women by eight to one.
In a forceful speech outside the Village Hall on Friday, McNally vowed to hold Andy Burnham personally responsible for any crimes, including sexual offences, that might be committed by incoming migrants.
‘God help you,’ McNally continued, addressing the Prime Minister directly. ‘We will hunt you down… if any one of our residents is harmed by anyone from that site, I will use the Hillsborough Law to come after you.’
Local residents pose with a ‘Principality of Piddington’ sign in the Oxfordshire village following the referendum result, on September 16
Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary (L) and Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s spokesperson for home affairs, (R) debate with each other as they speak to the media outside Piddington village hall on Friday, while Tim McNally, chairman of Piddington Parish Council, (C) looks on
The Public Office Accountability Bill, also known as the Hillsborough Law and currently progressing through the Lords, would allow officials to face criminal prosecution for offences including misleading the public. Residents of Piddington believe the Labour Government is doing precisely that.
‘Their own law will be their own demise,’ McNally vowed.
A local woman in her 60s told the Daily Mail: ‘They know the risks of placing these young, military-aged men in our village. But they’re pressing on regardless.’
The controversial scheme is being fast-tracked by the Home Office despite fierce local opposition. Ministers have used a planning-law loophole allowing projects deemed to be of ‘national importance’ to be expedited, even bypassing Labour’s favoured ‘environmental assessments’.
Campaign group Wrong Plan Wrong Site has applied for a judicial review at the High Court, arguing that the Government must comply with environmental regulations. Cherwell District Council is backing the case.
McNally, the parish council chairman, has also promised to pursue every other legal avenue available in an effort to stop what he called the Government’s ‘abuse of power’.
The Home Office said: ‘Planning permission allows us to continue to progress the use of MoD Bicester. However, a final decision to proceed is yet to be taken.’
On Thursday evening, McNally was celebrating his 61st birthday with his partner, Christina, at the Aamore Italian restaurant in nearby Thame. He was eating a ‘meat feast’ pizza and drinking a bottle of wine when he learned that Rayner had approved the plans.
A car passes a sign opposing the Asylum Centre near Piddington, north-west of London, on Friday, where the government plans to accommodate around 1,200 asylum seekers
An aerial view of Piddington, with the MoD Bicester site in the background
He finished his final slice quickly and was appearing on television news by 9pm.
‘There will be security and CCTV on site, but not in the village,’ he told the Mail. ‘There will be fights. Some might even arm themselves, and take those weapons out into the village.’
Residents are also concerned that the site, which is expected to cost about £256million to prepare, is fundamentally unsuitable for migrant accommodation.
‘The Government has programmed people to believe that this is viable,’ McNally said. ‘But it’s not. They’ll have to rely on a generator consuming thousands of litres of fuel a day. There’s not even running water.’
For the newly self-declared ‘Principality of Piddington’, the most serious concern is the threat of sexual violence, particularly following a series of high-profile rapes and other attacks committed by asylum seekers across the country.
Ministers have repeatedly declined to publish data they hold on sexual assaults committed by asylum seekers, despite calls from campaigners and opposition MPs.
Many members of the ‘Women of Piddington’, a separate protest group that was out in force yesterday, have started self-defence classes. The group previously wrote to every female MP warning: ‘Our safety, our security and our freedoms will be under threat.’
Victoria Hubbocks, 32, a mother of three boys, told the Mail: ‘We’re not going to tolerate this. My youngest is four, my eldest is 11. So the ten-year lifespan of this ‘temporary’ site would be their whole childhood.
‘They should be able to run across the road and see their friends. Now we won’t be able to let them out of our sight.’
Victoria, a prominent figure in the Women of Piddington campaign, has been maintaining morale by hosting regular wine nights. ‘We’re doing a lot of fundraising, we’ve been to Westminster, we’re still doing self-defence classes,’ she said.
For the women, it is particularly painful that planning permission was granted by Angela Rayner, who pledged before Labour came to power to ‘halve the level of violence against women and girls’.
Victoria said: ‘Now she’s effectively saying women’s safety doesn’t matter. We’re being treated like collateral damage.’
Claire Brenner, a mother of two, said: ‘I live here. This is my town. I adore this place.’
She has been working on several legal challenges aimed at blocking the Government’s plans.
‘I’ve been looking for evidence of bats,’ she said. ‘An independent expert has confirmed there could be a rare bat species here of ‘international importance’.
The habitat regulations require [ministers] to look at the impact on the conservation status of these bats. They haven’t done that. So it’s wide open for a legal challenge. Game on!’
A security guard stands by the gate outside a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) facility in Piddington, northwest of London, on Friday
Claire’s claims about rare bats follow suggestions made two months ago that great crested newts, which have obstructed numerous developments over the years, could also be nesting in the area.
Late yesterday morning, Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp and his Reform UK counterpart Zia Yusuf addressed the crowd before becoming embroiled in a heated exchange captured by television cameras.
Yusuf accused the Conservatives of failing on immigration while in government, while Philp accused him of seeking political advantage. As the crowd cheered, Philp told Yusuf: ‘Read the room and pipe down.’
‘The Government has ignored local people,’ Philp told the Daily Mail. ‘I’m disgusted that Angela Rayner has abused her powers to impose illegal immigrants on Piddington. Using emergency Crown planning powers to force a camp for 1,200 males on a tiny rural village is sickening.
‘The Government should leave the ECHR so illegal immigrants can be rapidly deported.’
Downing Street said in a statement: ‘We have saved £1billion in asylum costs since the election. We are closing costly, inappropriate asylum hotels and moving to other forms of accommodation, including former military sites.
‘They are designed to be self-contained with 24/7 security and CCTV to minimise the impact on the local community.
‘As the Prime Minister has said, we do not want a situation where only the poorest communities receive all of the dispersals of refugees and asylum seekers.’
While the Government speaks of dispersing refugees and asylum seekers, residents of Piddington, along with people across Britain, are increasingly calling for deportations.
And if Andy Burnham is ever held criminally responsible for any crimes that might, God forbid, occur in Piddington, he may come to regret taking on this proud village in the heart of England.
READ MORE: The great Piddington betrayal: Rayner presses ahead with plans for migrant camp – with villagers who voted to leave the UK in protest ignored