LOCAL MP CALLS ON MINISTERS TO APOLOGISE FOR ABORTED ASYLUM CENTRE COSTS

Tony Baldry MP says wasted money would have delivered community hospital

North Oxfordshire MP, Tony Baldry, has called on Ministers to apologise for the waste of £33 million on the aborted Bicester asylum accommodation centre.

Speaking in the House of Commons, following the publication of the National Audit Office's report into aborted scheme to house 750 asylum seekers in Bicester, Tony Baldry said Minister's were yet to apologise for the waste of taxpayers money on the project, which could have delivered six community hospitals at Bicester.  Bicester has been promised a new community hospital with beds since 1998, with the building costs estimated at £5 million.

Tony Baldry asked the NAO to investigate after the centre was abandoned in 2005 - the NAO said the overall costs of the project were £33 million, with £28 million specific to Bicester.  The plan was rejected by a Planning Enquiry, which was overturned by the Government.  The NAO said Ministers should have dropped the scheme when the costs started spiralling but despite repeated calls by Tony Baldry, local campaigners, and human rights organisations, Ministers failed to do so.

Tony Baldry MP said:

"Is it not scandalous that, had it not been for my asking the NAO to undertake this report, none of this would ever have come out, and that no Minister has offered today to apologise? Like everything else with this Government when they squander such a sum, I suspect that no Minister will apologise. They have been promising Bicester a new community hospital for nearly a decade, and £33 million could have built, staffed and run such a hospital for many decades to come."