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.

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.

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.’

MORE STORY: Car Influencer Speeding in Crash That Killed Hooters Calendar Model

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’.

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.

Has any modern royal couple developed such a reputation for walking away as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex?

They left Britain after only 18 months as working royals, then appeared to step back from much of what they began in the US. Now they are back in Britain for reasons that remain unclear — and, only weeks into this latest chapter, signs of disruption have already emerged.

Do Harry and Meghan ever pause before making a major move? Are decisions too often driven by impulse? And do they give enough thought to the next steps, rather than simply leaving difficulties behind and moving on?

Their choices can seem hastily made, with scant regard for the lasting consequences — not only for themselves, but also for everyone caught up in them.

This latest decision may be the most startling yet. Archie and Lilibet have reportedly been withdrawn from their new prep school after just two days. Two days — scarcely enough time for the children to learn where to hang their coats or find their way around before being moved again.

The explanation, apparently, is concern about security during the school run. Critics, however, may see it as another example of poor preparation combined with Harry and Meghan’s familiar tendency to act quickly. Some have also suggested that the development could ultimately bolster their position.

Ravec, the body responsible for VIP and royal security, is currently said to be re-evaluating the Sussexes’ security status. The safety of Archie and Lilibet would inevitably be a significant factor in that assessment.

Whatever the reasoning, the children are now changing schools. The time, cost and effort presumably spent preparing pupils, parents and staff at the first school for their arrival will have been for nothing, and the process must now begin again elsewhere.

As for Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, their poor little heads must be spinning. 

Not only have they just been pulled out of the only life they’ve ever known in sunny California and dumped in the middle of the Cotswolds just in time for the English winter, they’ve now also had to endure all the stresses of starting a new school in a new country, only to have the rug pulled out from beneath them.

It’s one thing for Harry and Meghan to blindside their staff and other members of the Royal Family, as they have time and time again.

Only this summer, they suddenly announced their return, shocking everyone from the King down – he reportedly found out about their move the Sunday before they announced it.

But it’s quite another to do that to their own children. How anxiety-inducing must it be for poor Archie and Lilibet? Their parents’ behaviour has already excluded them from getting to know their cousins or having a meaningful relationship with their British relatives, and now this. What a mess.

Children look to their parents for stability and wisdom. Harry and Meghan are supposed to be the grown-ups – and yet they are behaving like children themselves, chopping and changing at the first sign of the slightest obstacle. Besides, kids understand so much more than we give them credit for. 

They will likely be feeling very scared and confused by this sudden decision, especially if they’ve picked up that it’s a security issue.

Talking of which, if the duke and duchess were really so worried about their own safety and that of the children, why would they post pictures of family life in their new countryside idyll? Isn’t that kind of thing completely counterproductive – and a gift to anyone with bad intentions towards them? 

ALSO READ: Sam Newman Backs Pauline Hanson Over Comments on Indigenous Australians

There is no need for it, and it serves no purpose other than to expose them to unnecessary scrutiny and potentially attract unwanted attention.

No one in the Press has identified either the Sussexes’ new home or the children’s school, out of respect for their right to privacy and safety – and yet they themselves have strongly hinted at their location to anyone with even basic local knowledge.

That is no one’s fault but their own. And no doubt if, God forbid, something were ever to happen, the couple would blame everyone except themselves. It’s such classic Sussex denial.

One can only conclude that they are either very stupid or they like causing a melodrama.

Let’s not forget that time in New York in 2023 when they issued a dramatic statement claiming to have been involved in a ‘near-catastrophic car chase’ (a highly loaded term given Harry’s family history) which, on closer inspection, turned out to be them getting stuck in a traffic jam. Granted, they were snapped by a few paparazzi – but never in a manner that put anyone in any danger.

As for their school-run complaint, I won’t reveal the name of the establishment, but I have several friends whose children have attended that school over the years, and I would say two things. Firstly, it is a brilliant, very well-established institution, and more than capable of dealing with the security concerns of high-

profile parents. Second, even the most cursory enquiries would have revealed its one and only disadvantage: The local traffic, which is famously murderous.

It’s so bad I have one friend who used to leave the house at 6.30am just to get her kids there on time. Houses within walking distance are fought over by millionaires and exchange hands for eye-watering prices.

Parents endure it because the school is so good. But it is notoriously a nightmare traffic-wise.

So why, if they were going to uproot the entire family and send their children there, didn’t the Sussexes check the practicalities of their decision with some of the few remaining friends and supporters they have in Britain?

After all, Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, own a six-bedroom converted farmhouse in the Cotswolds complete with ‘party barn’, tennis court and swimming pool, which they purchased in 2021 for around £3.5million.

Edo (as he’s known) attended schools in the area. By all accounts the Sussexes remain on very good terms with the Mapelli Mozzis. They would have been more than able to tell them the lie of the land and flag up any potential pitfalls concerning school runs.

Perhaps they didn’t bother to ask. Or perhaps the fact the decision to return to Britain was taken so on the hoof just meant there was no time.

It seems they did the dry run in August, when everyone is on holiday and the roads are relatively clear – which makes you wonder about the quality of some of the security advisers they’re using.

Or perhaps Prince Harry is just so used to the VIP treatment he simply forgot that as mere mortals there are no motorcycle outriders to clear the way through civilian traffic.

Well, all I can say is welcome to the real world, Sir. Not always as fun or as easy as it looks, is it?