Villagers lose fight over asylum centre

The Government today won a belated victory on the issue of asylum seekers when a High Court judge refused to overturn plans for a new countryside reception centre.

Mr Justice Collins's decision is a relief for the Government which has been battered over immigration in the past week.

The judge ruled Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott had acted lawfully in giving the nod to the centre near Bicester, Oxfordshire.

It will house 400 single men, 50 single women and 300 family members while their asylum applications are processed. They will be free to come and go but will be expected to sleep at the centre, which will offer healthcare, education and other facilities.

Local protesters, who fear the area will be "swamped", were furious when Mr Prescott overruled an independent planning inspector who had rejected the plans. Local Tory MP Tony Baldry accused the Government of "a stitch-up between two departments".

Lawyers for the protesters had argued that Mr Prescott acted illegally in failing to follow the statutory planning procedures and had failed to consider the massive extra burden the centre would place on local services. But today the judge said he was satisfied "that no grounds have been established which would justify me in deciding that Mr Prescott's decision was wrong in law". He added that Mr Prescott "was entitled to exercise his own judgment on the weight to be attached to material matters and thus to differ from the inspector".

The judge appreciated the "intense public feeling" on the case, but that was "not a good enough reason" to support the challenge to the Government.

Cherwell district council, which had applied for a judicial review of Mr Prescott's decision, must pay the hearing costs. Its lawyers are deciding whether to appeal.

But the Home Office indicated to the Bicester centre planning inquiry it was not prepared to defray any extra costs to local services. The judge said: "Thus the minister's statements were not, as events turned out, entirely accurate since it was accepted there might be an impact on local services, albeit ... certainly not excessive."