Piddington, a central English village of 350 people, held a symbolic “independence referendum” on Tuesday to protest against plans to house more than 1,200 asylum seekers at a nearby disused military site.
Villager Ian Darby (63) said Piddington was willing to accept its share of migrants but considered the proposed number excessive. A govt factsheet said the site would house single adult male asylum seekers for at least 10 years, with the safety and security of migrants, staff and the local community of the utmost importance. In an open letter to Parliament’s 266 women MPs, 133 female residents said they feared for their safety. Student and part-time stablehand Dita Jackson (17) said she was taking self-defence classes, while farmer Jennifer Owen (76) said the plan would completely change the village.
Because piddington had only a village hall, a 12th-century church and a playing field, villagers, however, said the plan was impractical.
The Oxfordshire village, 25km from Oxford, asked residents to vote “Yes” or “No” on whether it should seek to secede from the UK and pursue self-determination. The tongue-in-cheek vote has no legal basis but residents said it was intended to draw attention to their concerns. McNally said residents were concerned not about most asylum seekers but about an unpredictable “small minority of individuals who will be a nuisance that we cannot predict or control”.
Protests against housing asylum seekers in hotels and other facilities have been held across the UK as irregular migration has become a major political issue. Masked men dressed in black clashed with police near two coast ports this month over the arrival of undocumented migrants in small boats. The result is due on Wednesday morning.