Troubled immigration detention centre Campsfield House will remain open for the foreseeable future, the Government has said.

The detention centre, near Kidlington, has been beset with problems since it opened 15 years ago – and has been the scene of riots, hunger strikes, and mass break-outs while attracting criticism from civil rights campaigners.

Plans for a state-of-the-art detention centre holding 800 illegal immigrants on land near Bicester were announced last week.

Activists from the Campaign to Close Campsfield hoped this scheme would spell the end of Campsfield, which was first earmarked for closure six years ago.

But on Monday night the UK Border Agency said it needed both centres to cope with a growing number of illegal immigrants, overstayers and failed asylum seekers prior to deportation.

A spokesman said, “There are no current plans to close Campsfield.

“The UK Border Agency has undertaken a major programme of process improvement in the past four years.

“It is now clear additional detention places will be required to enable the Agency to achieve its removal targets. As part of this work we are continuing to consider Bicester as a potential site for a new secure immigration removal centre."

A planning application for the detention centre on Ministry of Defence-owned land near Arncott is expected to be submitted to Cherwell District Council later this month.

If the centre goes ahead, it will be built to the same standard as a category C prison with a 5.2 metre-high fence around the perimeter topped with razor-wire.

It could be open in two years time.

Campsfield House holds just 215 detainees.

Bob Hughes, of the Campaign to Close Campsfield, said he thought the agency would close Campsfield because the new site was larger and able to imprison people much more cheaply.

He added: “We want to see the end of Campsfield, but make no mistake, from this month we will be campaigning against this new detention centre at Bicester.”

The campaigners hold regular protests at the detention centre using the slogan ‘asylum seekers are not criminals’.