Back to list

Date submitted

21 July 2026

Submitted by

Interested party

Dear Planning Inspectorate, I am writing to object to the proposed expansion of Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre. The application reference is CROWN/2026/0000004. I object because the proposal would more than double the size of Campsfield, from 160 to 400 places, on Green Belt land. I am concerned that the expansion would add pressure to local roads, services, and infrastructure. I am a student at the University of Oxford, I've travelled around Oxfordshire a great deal, and I see the county's challenges with road durability, congestion, and increased cost of living driving homelessness within Oxford and employment difficulties throughout. Increasing development will exacerbate all of these issues. The Home Office has not clearly shown why 240 additional detention places are needed at Campsfield, or why existing capacity, alternatives to detention, or other estate options would not be sufficient. This is especially important because the proposal would involve permanent development on protected land. I am also concerned that key information has been withheld throughout this process, including details of the layout, transport, lighting, landscaping and how the site would operate. As someone who has lived in the United States, where immigration centers built without oversight have become the sites of grievous neglect and mistreatment, I find this very alarming. Full transparency at all stages is an absolute requirement to prevent abuses of power that profoundly contradict British values. Immigration detention causes serious harm to the people detained, and its effects are felt by families, communities, legal and advice services, health services and local residents. Expanding Campsfield would therefore have significant human and community consequences. For these reasons, I ask that the application is refused. If it is not refused at this stage, I ask that it be examined through a full public inquiry. Yours faithfully, Peter Tarson