Ever since its inhabitants last month announced an intention to hold a referendum on leaving the United Kingdom over plans to house asylum seekers on an ex-MoD site on their doorstep, Piddington has liked to be known as “the village that roared”.
This week, as the Oxfordshire community baked in the heatwave, the predominant atmosphere was more one of quiet indignation in the wake of a call from the Prime Minister for “wealthier areas” in Britain to house more migrants arriving across the English Channel.
Shorts
The village – a pretty, winding strip of rural England punctuated by a village hall and a medieval church – sits roughly half a mile from Site A of the Bicester Garrison. This mothballed Ministry of Defence (MoD) logistics base is where the Government wants to house 1,250 male asylum seekers as part of its promise to end the use of hotels to accommodate migrants.
For Piddington’s 350 or so residents, however, it is an isolated, ill-chosen site sat cheek by jowl with a community who were politely bristling at the apparent suggestion that their opposition to the project is borne from a desire to protect a privileged quietude.
