Barnham, a quintessentially English village in Suffolk, is sending a delegation to Piddington this week to discuss holding its own independence referendum after a nearby military base was earmarked to house 1,250 asylum seekers.
The village is considering following the example of the Oxfordshire community, whose high-profile in-or-out vote reflected local anger over a plan that would more than double Barnham’s population.
In last week’s Piddington vote, held over Home Office plans to use MoD Bicester to accommodate migrants, 90 per cent of those taking part backed seceding from the UK.
Although such a referendum would be symbolic and have no legal force, Barnham residents believe it could draw further public attention to the controversial scheme, which is intended to reduce the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels.
John Bauer, the 66-year-old chairman of Barnham Parish Council, told Our News Outlet that he would join a group of villagers travelling to Piddington on Tuesday. He has already been in contact with the Oxfordshire village’s council chairman.
Mr Bauer said the government’s apparent lack of engagement with local concerns meant that generating widespread publicity could be an important way to defend the community’s way of life.
“They don’t care about the people of Barnham. They don’t care that it will increase by two-and-a-half times the population of a village, with single men mostly of fighting age not contained within the site,” Mr Bauer said.
Barnham in Suffolk is sending a delegation of residents to Piddington in Oxfordshire on Tuesday to examine the possibility of holding its own independence referendum
Residents have been told that RAF Barnham, the nearby military base, has been earmarked to accommodate at least 1,250 asylum seekers
The 580 residents fear their small community could be overwhelmed by the arrival of asylum seekers from the nearby base
“Barnham is a small village with about 580 people. There are children of varying ages, and people are worried about the impact on them and on women in the community as well.”
“Piddington has been incredibly successful in raising its profile. It has attracted national attention, as well as the attention of ministers and the Prime Minister. It has also received international attention.”
He added: “I can’t honestly say I’ve spoken to anyone—and I’ve spoken to a lot of people—who has said, ‘I’m happy for them to come here.’”
“To send a message to the government, I wouldn’t be surprised if 90 per cent voted to secede from the UK.”
The village has a hall, church and primary school, but no other amenities such as a shop or pub where asylum seekers—who will be allowed to leave and return to the base—could spend their time.
Protests have been held outside RAF Barnham since the plans for the site, MoD Bicester and a third facility at Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire were announced in June.
Tensions rose after details of a private meeting between Home Office officials and councillors in Norfolk, which borders the RAF Barnham area, were leaked. During the meeting, the department reportedly acknowledged that the facilities could house “a lot more” migrants than previously disclosed.
Violent disorder also broke out over several nights last month in Thetford, Norfolk, about two miles from Barnham, after it emerged that the Home Office was considering quadrupling the number of asylum seekers placed in private accommodation.
Piddington in Oxfordshire held a referendum last Tuesday amid concerns over plans to accommodate migrants at MoD Bicester
Around 90 per cent of voters chose to secede from the UK, although the referendum has no legal standing
An aerial view of part of the base at MoD Bicester
Barnham residents turned out en masse at the village hall on Wednesday last week – the day after Piddington held its referendum – to discuss their resistance movement.
Until now, it has focused on an ‘evidential’ approach involving planning issues such as environmental concerns.
The base was once used to store nuclear and chemical weapons and there are concerns the land could be contaminated.
The site is also a nesting ground for stone curlews, a species of bird so endangered that any development within 1,500m is forbidden.
But there is an increasing feeling that time is running out and a more emphatic, headline-grabbing approach may be needed, as the Home Office is expected to announce its decision this autumn – with asylum seekers moving in before Christmas.
Mother-of-two Collette Skelly, 58, who has lived in the village for 15 years and was at the meeting, said: ‘It’s a good way of raising publicity.
‘At the moment, there is nothing on the news about Barnham. So Piddington had to do it as a publicity stunt to raise attention.’
A man in his 60s added: ‘It’s on the news, they’re questioning the prime minister about Piddington today, so it’s working, isn’t it. I’d absolutely support it.’
Adrian Whittle, the leader of Reform UK at West Suffolk Council, declared he would support the village’s right to hold a referendum.
‘It raises the profile that people haven’t just given up, they want their country back, they want their lives back.’
Some locals were less certain, however, fearing it would act as a distraction from the formal planning approach.
James Hollins said: ‘The referendum is rubbish, it can’t go anywhere, it’s got no legal standing.
‘We can demonstrate but they’re not going to listen.’
Announcing the referendum result on Wednesday last week, Piddington Parish Council chairman Mr McNally said: ‘We have given a message to the world.’
Vice-chair Susannah Parden added: ‘We are Piddington, the village that roars.’
Tory home affairs spokesman Chris Philp said the vote should be a ‘wake-up call’ for the government.
Barnham was last year unveiled as the site where evidence of the earliest known human-made fire had been uncovered.
Researchers found baked earth together with the earliest known Stone Age ‘lighter’ – a flint that was hit against pyrite, a rock also known as fool’s gold, to create a spark – that dated back 400,000 years.
The village also appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded that it housed 35 families – a large village by the standards of the time.
