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Date submitted

22 July 2026

Submitted by

Interested party

We write as representatives of the University and College Union, University of Oxford branch, and members of the Oxfordshire community, to express our strong opposition to the proposed expansion of the Campsfield House refugee and migrant detention facility near Oxford airport. We note the widespread opposition to the re-opening of this detention centre from parish, district, city and county councils elected bodies, local MPs, and and a broad range of civil society organisations. We also note that our branch has passed a motion opposing the reopening of Campsfield House. We are deeply concerned by plans to expand Campsfield House, a site with a troubling history that includes suicides, hunger strikes, and repeated allegations of inhumane treatment. Other immigration detention centres operated by the same contractor have been found to have toxic and damaging conditions (see, for example the Brook House Inquiry, which highlighted serious failures in safeguarding detainees and tackling abusive practices. ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ The proposed expansion of Campsfield has not been subject to proper parliamentary scrutiny and is being advanced through the new Crown Development Route, bypassing established local democratic planning processes. We strongly object to the use of this mechanism to override local accountability on an issue of such significance. The mass detention of asylum seekers and migrants is cruel, costly and ineffective. In practice, Campsfield House functions as a prison, yet those detained have not been convicted of any crime or sentenced to this punishment. There is substantial evidence that this type of detention causes severe mental distress, including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, with harmful effects that often persist long after release. Detainees in these centres also face significant barriers in accessing legal advice and representation. The financial costs are equally concerning. Mass detention is an expensive and inefficient use of public funds, and the Government continues to pay substantial compensation for unlawful detention - according to the Migration Observatory, 838 people received compensation for unlawful immigration detention in 2023–24, at a cost of approximately £12 million. ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ ) There are more humane, effective and cost-efficient alternatives. Many of us have direct experience of sponsoring Ukrainian families fleeing war through community-based schemes that have provided safe routes to protection at far lower cost. The UNHCR and other organisations have demonstrated that community-based alternatives to detention achieve better outcomes while respecting human dignity and reducing public expenditure. ███████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ The University of Oxford is a University of Sanctuary, committed to supporting refugees and asylum seekers. Oxford City and Oxfordshire are recognised places of sanctuary. The expansion of Campsfield House is fundamentally at odds with these values and with our commitment to dignity, inclusion and human rights. For these reasons, we strongly urge the Government to abandon the proposed expansion of Campsfield House and to pursue humane, evidence-based alternatives to immigration detention. We do not want a large-scale detention centre in our county. We strongly object both to the continued operation of Campsfield House and to its proposed expansion.