A former airbase should be used to house asylum seekers, according to a Tory councillor.
Douglas Spencer, a district councillor for Bicester West, has expressed concern that some asylum seekers are jumping the housing queue in the area, and that using RAF Bicester would ease the problem.
At present there are an estimated 1,500 asylum seekers in Oxfordshire, and Mr Spencer said that some refugees arriving in the Bicester area should be housed in "surplus Government buildings" rather than in council properties. More than 2,600 people in the Cherwell district are on the waiting list for council homes, and Mr Spencer says those who have waited patiently should receive accommodation first.
"After the ports and airports, the most popular place where asylum seekers are found is at the M40 services in Cherwell," he added.
But the Home Office ruled out the possibility of using former Army or RAF bases. It said: "We want to keep asylum seekers within multi-ethnic communities and not isolate them at disused bases. There is also the added problem of transport."
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