Concerned councillors from all three levels of local government have written to the Home Secretary urging a rethink on reopening an immigration detention centre.
Kidlington councillors Lesley McLean, Jean Conway, Dorothy Walker, Ian Middleton, Fiona Mawson and Linda Ward signed a joint letter condemning Yvette Cooper's decision to push forward with the re-opening of Campsfield House.
They called on her and Secretary of State for Housing and Local Government Angela Rayner to visit the area to discuss the decision to proceed with the Conservative £170million plan to open the site to facilitate the now cancelled Rwanda resettlement scheme.
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The letter said: "We write in our capacities as district councillors for the Kidlington area, to question the new government’s decision announced last week, when parliament was in recess, to go ahead with the Conservative project to refurbish and reopen the Campsfield House Detention Centre in Kidlington, despite there being a complete lack of parliamentary scrutiny."
In 2018, the Conservative government announced its decision to permanently close Campsfield House as part of its new policy to reduce the UK’s detention estate by half.
This decision followed two major reviews into migrant detention conducted by Sir Stephen Shaw, in 2016 and 2018, which recommended that government resources would be better directed to speeding up the Home Office’s rate of asylum application processing.
The recommendations were fully accepted by the government and Campsfield House was closed in early 2019.
It followed years of problems, including riots, escapes and complaints about conditions.
In June 2022, the Conservative government reversed its detention closure policy.
During the general election campaign, the Labour Party promised a complete departure from the Conservative approach, and cancelled the Rwanda scheme.
As well as their moral and practical objections, the councillors said the area around Campsfield has changed drastically since the centre last operated and is now being targeted by technology companies attracting international development and spin-out companies from the university.
It said such investment could be put at risk by the siting of a centre that is likely to attract regular demonstrations which would impacts local businesses and residents.
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They wrote: "Re-opening Campsfield House is illogical from a local planning perspective, with the site being part of the rapidly developing Oxford Technology Park released from the Green Belt to enable the development of emerging technology businesses."
They invited Yvette Cooper or Angela Rayner to visit the area "to enable a factual evaluation of the Campsfield site and its potential impact on surrounding business development for yourselves".
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Campsfield IRC will be used to detain those who we are seeking to remove from the UK, including foreign national offenders and immigration offenders.
"As part of our planning for the development of the site, we have held discussions with local councillors and other local stakeholders to ensure the impact of the plans on the local community and environment is fully taken into account, and we are always happy to have further such discussions where helpful.”
He added that he did not recognise the £170million figure as being the cost of refurbishing the centre.
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