Campaigners against an asylum centre opening in a North Yorkshire village say the people of Piddington have done a “really good job”, but they will not be following suit.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he understood the “strength of feeling” across the country about migration, after the Oxfordshire village of Piddington, which could see more than a 1,000 asylum seekers housed nearby, voted to become an independent state in a symbolic “referendum”.

However Mr Burnham said the commitment to end the use of hotels to house refugees and asylum seekers "needs to be honoured, and I think the vast majority of people say ‘yeah, that really does need to need to proceed".

The former RAF base at Linton-on-Ouse is one of three sites along with MoD Bicester, around half a mile from Piddington and MoD Barnham in Suffolk, which could house a total of 3,750 asylum seekers if planning permission is granted.

The crunch meeting at Piddington where the villagers voted on a referendum to leave the UK.

placeholder image — The crunch meeting at Piddington where the villagers voted on a referendum to leave the UK.

In July the Home Office submitted an "Urgent Crown Development" bid to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for the site at Barnham to become asylum seeker accommodation. Earlier this month a similar application was submitted for the fomer central ordnance dept at MoD Bicester.

The process bypasses local councils under a simplified, quicker process, with the Secretary of State making the final decision.

Martin Sanderson, from the Linton Village Action Group, said Linton is “still in the feasibility study” phase.

“We were told the feasibility study would be concluded by the end of October, but that’s highly unlikely,” he said. Mr Sanderson said as they were not the parish council they did not have the power to call a referendum.

He said: “Either way we are not going to go down that path. We have incontrovertible evidence that this isn’t an appropriate site.

“We have faith in British democracy and we believes that if the Asylum Minister (Anna Turley) were to come and visit as she has been invited and if civil servants did their job in a fair and appropriate way, they would come to the same conclusion as everyone who visits Linton.

“The things that sit in our favour is there has never been an operational site so close to a diverse community. We have massive infrastructure issues round sewage, water, electricity. There are so many barriers for them to get past.”

In Piddington, signs placed outside the village hall and park declared the area the “Principality of Piddington”, after 285 residents backed independence, with a turnout of nearly 92 per cent.

Parish chairman Tim McNally said the vote was about “hope” for residents.

He said: "We have given an absolute message, not just to the region, not just to the country, but to the world.”

Last month the Home Office said "fewer than 160" asylum hotels remain in use, down from 400 at their peak of 2023, when they were costing a staggering £9m a day. All asylum hotels are to “be returned to local communities by 2029”.

A spokesman previously said: “We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites which are designed to be self-contained to reduce impact on the local community.

“As part of the process, we engage with local authorities and police forces to ensure the safety and security of the surrounding area.”

Previous plans to use Linton as an asylum centre for up to 1,500 single men were abandoned in 2022.