'It is NOT suitable!' Barnham locals plan Piddington-style referendum over plans to house 1,250 asylum seekers in small village

The Chair of Barnham Parish Council has declared their village is "not suitable" to house asylum seekers as locals protest plans to house more than 1,250 in their village.

Speaking to GB News, John Bauer argued that their village, which has a population of fewer than 600 people, has a "number of reasons" why it shouldn't be housing asylum seekers.

Following a "fact-finding mission" visit to the Oxfordshire village of Piddington, Barnham in Suffolk may become the second English community to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK.

Having held a meeting on Tuesday, Mr Bauer told GB News Reporter Charlie Peters that he was "impressed" with the scale of Piddington's campaign against plans for asylum accommodation there.

He said: "We were going there on a fact-finding mission, and I've been following the progress of the Piddington campaign, so we wanted to go there to see exactly what they've done and what we could learn from it.

"Our two villages have so much in common, and we felt that we might well be able to get something useful from them.

"We're also impressed with the scale of the publicity they've been able to achieve, and obviously, the referendum is one of those things that certainly helped to elevate their profile."

Mr Bauer highlighted that although the community acknowledges that asylum seekers "need to go somewhere", he argued that the site at RAF Barnham is "not suitable" to house them.

He said: "People here are seeking asylum, and yes, they do need to go somewhere, but they need to go somewhere suitable. This isn't suitable.

"There's a whole number of reasons why Barnham should not be a site of housing asylum seekers. There's ecological reasons, we've got a site of special scientific interest. We have a special protection area and a special area of conservation.

"It's an area where the species, the Stone-curlew, is protected under international law. And if you have Stone-curlew in an area, there should be no development within a buffer zone of 1500m of a nesting site, and we have them all around this area."

The council chair made clear: "It's a very small village, we're less than 600 people, and if you put 1,250 asylum seekers there, all male, undocumented, there is natural concern over this within the village."

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Offering his view on the asylum accommodation, Mr Brown told GB News that the Government "does not understand the strain we are under" as a small English village.

He said: "I think people don't understand the strain the village has been under, and going to Piddington made me feel a lot better actually, because that was also a small village.

"A lot of people didn't know about it, and it's not only made national news, it's made international news. And I think if we can do something similar here, we actually can start building some momentum for everybody."

Echoing the concerns of local residents, Mr Brown said that housing double their population in the village is a "safety issue" for many living there.

He said: "I think this is really about a safety issue. We've got young children here, we've got elderly people, and obviously women here.

"This is a safe community, you go out in the evening, walk your dog, you don't feel I'm threatened. Suddenly 1,200 men turning up, I think naturally, you worry about people, and I think that's a natural instinct anyone would have."

A Home Office spokesman has previously said of asylum accommodation: "The Government is closing every asylum hotel, saving taxpayers over £1billion on asylum support since the election.

"We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, including former military sites which are designed to be self-contained to reduce impact on the local community."