[REVISION HISTORY]

UK villages protest asylum seeker housing at military bases

Updated 3 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-22 19:53 UTC → 2026-09-24 18:59 UTC · added ~~removed~~

In Oxfordshire, residents of Piddington held a symbolic referendum to declare independence from the United Kingdom. The vote, organized by the local Parish Council, saw 285 residents vote in favor of secession and 26 against. The protest was a response to government plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at a nearby former Ministry of Defence site in Bicester. While the referendum lacks legal authority, participants declared the area the ‘Principality of Piddington’. Government officials stated that the plan to use former military bases to reduce reliance on hotels would proceed. Following these events, the village of Barnham in Suffolk began considering its own symbolic independence referendum. This move follows similar Home Office plans to use the nearby RAF Barnham military base to house approximately 1,250 asylum seekers, an influx that would more than double the village's population. Barnham officials indicated they are looking to the Piddington community for guidance as they seek to draw public attention to local concerns regarding community safety and way of life. Local leaders in Barnham, including Parish Council Chairman John Bauer, expressed concerns that the proposed accommodation of up to 1,256 asylum seekers would overwhelm the small community, which has fewer than 600 residents and lacks basic amenities like shops or pubs. The Home Office has identified RAF Barnham as one of three potential sites intended to accommodate a total of 3,750 migrants. The Ministry of Defence noted that such sites are typically used only during the initial processing stage of asylum claims. Protests have also emerged in Crowborough, Sussex, following the conversion of a military base into a camp for approximately 540 male migrants. In Crowborough, demonstrators gathered to voice opposition to the site, while counter-protesters also held rallies in support of the migrants.

Versions

Only revisions since CLSTR began indexing content versions appear here. Select a version to see what changed compared to the one before it.