The Home Office has used an emergency planning procedure to sidestep the local council’s decision-making opposition
The UK government has approved controversial plans to house up to 1,256 male migrants near a tiny Oxfordshire village of around 350 residents, Sky News reported on Thursday. To protest the plans, Piddington symbolically seceded from the UK in September.
Residents of the village, which had a population of just 358 in 2021, have fiercely opposed the proposed asylum center at a nearby former military site, raising concerns about its impact on their small community. Despite 285 residents voting in favor of secession in the symbolic referendum, the government has refused to cancel the plans.
British Housing Secretary Angela Rayner personally approved the project on Thursday, according to Sky News. A letter from her department to the Home Office said the facility would “provide a flexible and operationally resilient” response to housing demand and reduce reliance on migrant hotels, the news outlet reported, citing the correspondence.
Although the facility was intended for temporary use, Rayner assessed the project “as if it was for a permanent development,” according to Sky News.
The Home Office used the Urgent Crown Development procedure, allowing ministers to decide the application instead of the local planning authority, which would normally have the power to reject such projects following objections from residents.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: rt.com
