Campsfield House should not be allowed to expand from 160 to 400 beds until the Home Office publicly shows how people held there would be protected from the sanitation and infrastructure risks identified by Thames Water.
The immediate issue is not an abstract argument about immigration policy. It is the proposed location of new secure accommodation blocks at the Oxfordshire immigration removal centre, which The Guardian reports would stand about 20 metres from a sewage pumping station. In a written planning submission, Thames Water warned that inhabitants could face odour, noise, vibration, maintenance lighting, insects and flies.
Those are concrete planning concerns for a site where people may have limited ability to leave their surroundings. Thames Water also raised concerns about capacity in local foul-water, surface-water and water-supply networks. A separate consultation response cited by the newspaper said the development could overload existing infrastructure and requested an impact study on possible sewage flooding.
The Home Office says it is confident in its plans and that additional detention capacity is important to removing people with no right to remain in the UK. That policy objective is a legitimate matter for ministers to pursue. But it does not answer the narrower question now before the planning process: whether this particular expansion has a workable design, adequate drainage and water capacity, and credible measures for the environmental effects raised by the utility company.
The warnings are risks raised in planning submissions, not proof that flooding, odour or insect swarms will inevitably occur. That is precisely why the inquiry matters. Written representations, including Thames Water’s, are due to be heard when the public inquiry begins on 14 December.
Before then, the Home Office should set out the relevant impact assessments and mitigation proposals in terms the public and inspectors can test. Repeating the case for more detention places is insufficient when the proposed site itself has prompted warnings about basic conditions.
Sources
- The Guardian · UK · Source date: 2026-11-15
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-15