Barnham Parish Council is in talks about holding a symbolic independence referendum due to proposals to house asylum seekers at a site close by.

It comes after residents of Piddington village in Oxfordshire recently voted on the same topic, in response to plans to house up to 1,250 male asylum seekers at former army barracks in the area.

A small group from Barnham PC plans to travel to the Oxfordshire village today to meet campaigners, the council has confirmed.

Chairman of Barnham Parish Council, John Bauer, told the BBC: ‘It's really a fact-finding mission to find out a bit more about exactly what they've done, how effective it's all been and whether that's something we would want to do in Barnham’.

He also told the BBC that if proposals were followed through, the number of asylum seekers versus the number of residents already living in Barnham would be ‘disproportionate’.

The Ministry of Defence sites are located in Bicester in Oxfordshire, Barnham in Suffolk, and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire. They were suggested in June as possible accommodation sites for asylum seekers.

Referencing a National Audit Office report from 2024, titled ‘Investigation into asylum accommodation’, Mr Bauer argued that the research presents the use of ex-military sites as more expensive than hotels or HMOs.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We recognise the strength of local feeling in Barnham and Piddington and are listening carefully to the concerns being raised.

‘This Government is working on a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation across the country, with £1bn saved in costs since the election. This includes closing all asylum hotels and moving to alternative accommodation, including former military sites.’