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Date submitted

21 July 2026

Submitted by

Interested party

Dear Planning Inspectorate, I wish to register my objection to the proposed expansion of Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre (application reference: CROWN/2026/0000004). I object because the proposal is to increase the size of the centre from 160 to 400 places – an increase of more than double – on Green Belt land. Such an increase, making the site more built-up, would both harm the openness of the Green Belt and add pressure to the already existing local infrastructure, like roads, sewerage, the electricity grid, and services. It is my belief that the scale of this harm and pressure should rule out the proposal as viable and it should be rejected. To justify such a large, permanent development on protected, Green Belt land, the Home Office would need to clearly show why 240 additional places are needed specifically at Campsfield – something the Home Office has not done. Neither has the Home Office shown why existing capacity, other estate options, or even alternatives to detention would not be sufficient. Because the Home Office has not proven more detention spaces are needed at Campsfield, it has not shown that the harm to protected land is justified and the application should be rejected. Not only has the Home Office application lacked this justification, it has also lack inadequate information that could enable members of the public to understand the full impact of the proposal: important information has been withheld or redacted, including information about the site’s layout, additional lighting, landscaping and how the site would operate, including things like potential increases in transportation to and from the site. These inadequacies should invalidate the application. Furthermore, immigration detention causes serious harm to the people detained there, as well as to their friends, families and communities, and the effects are felt by legal, advice and health services. There is also the effect living near something like a detention centre has on the local population. Expanding Campsfield would have serious human and community consequences far outweighing the supposed benefit of the expansion and should be rejected on these grounds also. For these reasons, I ask that the application be refused and, if it is not rejected at this stage, that it goes to a full public enquiry to be examined. Yours faithfully,