A second council is due to debate a motion, condemning the government over its plans to reopen a controversial immigration centre near Oxford. 

Cherwell District Council will discuss the future of Campsfield House, in Kidlington, at its full meeting today (Monday, October 21).

This follows on from Oxford City Council which voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion to write to the home secretary Yvette Cooper to urge her to abandon the plan.

The house is in Cherwell District Council's boundary, and has been mired in controversy. 

In 2018, the Conservative government announced its decision to permanently close Campsfield House as part of its new policy to reduce the UK’s detention estate by half.

READ MORE: Campsfield House: Oxford council condemns reopening plans

Campsfield House (Image: Contributed) This decision followed two major reviews into migrant detention conducted by Sir Stephen Shaw, in 2016 and 2018, which recommended that government resources would be better directed to speeding up the Home Office’s rate of asylum application processing.

In June 2022, the Conservative government reversed its detention closure policy.

During the general election campaign, the Labour Party promised a complete departure from the Conservative approach, and cancelled the Rwanda scheme.

The motion has been proposed by the council's Green Party leader Ian Middleton and the Lib Dem vice-chair of the council Dorothy Walker, who both represent wards in Kidlington. 

In the motion's preamble, it said: “Campsfield House Immigration Detention Centre in Kidlington was closed in 2019 after decades of campaigning by refugee support groups and Cherwell residents, and the publication of two government commissioned reviews criticising the UK’s migrant detention system.

"The leader of the reviews, the Prison Ombudsman, Sir Stephen Shaw, described the detention system as indiscriminate, inhumane and hugely wasteful. 

"In 2022 the Conservatives announced plans to reopen and double the size of Campsfield House to support its Rwanda Resettlement Scheme.

"The new Labour government have thankfully cancelled that scheme, removing the main rationale for the plans for Campsfield, but they have since announced their intention to continue with the reopening. 

"This has been criticised by migrants’ rights groups including Asylum Welcome, Detention Action, The Refugee Council, Amnesty International UK and the Keep Campsfield Closed group.

"Cherwell has a proud tradition of welcoming refugees and providing sanctuary from oppression and war. 

"The reopening of Campsfield House is a stain on our district and contradicts government recommendations into migrant detention in the UK. 

"Council therefore requests that the leader of the council writes to the home secretary calling on her to abandon the reopening of Campsfield House. And to outline plans to reduce, rather than increase, the number of people held in detention.

"Focus on accelerating the processing of asylum claims to reduce the huge number of individuals trapped in the system.

"And develop a more humane migration policy, including the establishment of safe and legal routes for people to claim asylum."