8 At the same time, the Home Office announced that Bicester was one of the first three sites chosen for accommodation centres, with plans for up to ten centres in due course. A planning assessment by the Home Office's advisers indicated that the Bicester site had the strongest technical planning case, and advice from the Home Office's legal counsel was that Bicester was the site most likely to win planning approval. In May 2002, the Home Office submitted a planning application to the local planning authority, Cherwell District Council.
9 There was opposition to the plan to site an accommodation centre at Bicester from the outset from local groups and from the main asylum and refugee support groups. Following a public consultation in June 2002, Cherwell District Council refused planning permission because the rural location made it unsuitable and the site was inaccessible by public transport. The Council was also concerned at the apparent conflict between the Home Office's proposal and local, regional and national planning and development processes and plans, and at the likely impact on local public services.
10 The Home Office lodged an appeal against the refusal of planning permission. A public planning inquiry into the Bicester accommodation centre opened in December 2002 and closed in March 2003. The planning inspector recommended to the Secretary of State that approval should not be given on the grounds that it would be inappropriate for the Government to make an exception for its own purposes to its own land use planning and sustainable development priorities; that the Home Office had not demonstrated convincing or overriding benefits for locating the centre in this rural area; and had not given sufficient attention to the risk of road accidents.
11 In August 2003, the Secretary of State for Local Government and the Regions considered the planning inspector's recommendation but gave planning approval for the Bicester centre. In October 2003, Cherwell District Council initiated judicial review proceedings, which were dismissed in April 2004.