‘Wrong plan: wrong site’: Community group preparing legal challenge to proposed asylum accommodation development at MOD Bicester
A community campaign group is preparing a legal challenge against the Government over its decision not to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed asylum accommodation development at MOD Bicester.
The legal challenge has been brought by the community interest company Bicester Countryside and Communities, a legal entity supporting non-political community campaign group Wrong Plan Wrong Site.
The Government issued an Urgent Crown Development application in relation to the site, allowing it to bypass normal planning rules.
In its screening direction in August, the Government said it believed an EIA was unnecessary for the proposed development, which is expected to accommodate up to 1,256 people for at least ten years.
A formal pre-action letter challenging that decision was sent last month on behalf of Bicester Countryside and Communities.
In a legal argument issued by the High Court the campaign group advanced three grounds of challenge.
The first claims that the Government “erred in law by concluding that significant effects were unlikely on the assumption that the outstanding investigations into contamination, ecology and foul drainage would have a favourable outcome.”
The second ground claims that the Government “failed to take reasonable steps to obtain the information necessary to reach a lawful decision by issuing the screening direction without any inquiry into the effects of the nearby Piddington training area on the residents of the development.”
The third ground claims that the Government “made the screening direction in a situation giving rise to a conflict of interest.”
A revised ecological appraisal issued in September after the screening direction reported 74 bat records, 131 great-crested newt records, 11 badger records and three otter records within two kilometres of the site.
A spokesperson for the Wrong Plan Wrong Site group said: “There are credible concerns about potential significant environmental effects.
“These include protected wildlife, wastewater, artificial lighting, traffic and other infrastructure impacts.
“We want the court to examine whether the Government lawfully concluded that an EIA was unnecessary.
“We are asking the Government to demonstrate that it has followed the law and properly assessed the environmental consequences of a development of this scale and in this environmentally-sensitive location.
"This is a substantial proposal, affecting a rural site and surrounding communities for at least ten years.
“There are legitimate questions about its potential environmental impact, and those questions deserve clear, evidence-based answers, not a rushed job.
"The Government has decided that an Environmental Impact Assessment is unnecessary.
“We disagree and believe that decision requires proper legal scrutiny.”
Last month the Oxfordshire village of Piddington attracted national attention after holding a symbolic referendum seeking independence from the UK over the plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at MOD Bicester.
Responding to the news Mid Buckinghamshire MP Greg Smith said: “With so many Mid Buckinghamshire villages under threat from this crazy proposal from Government, I am pleased to be working closely with Wrong Plan Wrong Site to ensure this camp never gets approved."