Frances Lawson, Acland Bryant and Joseph Michael Kelen of Garden Court Chambers act for the Coalition to Close Campsfield, instructed by Reed Smith LLP.
The Planning Inspectorate has postponed the inquiry into the Home Office’s plan to expand Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), near Kidlington in Oxfordshire, which had been due to open on 6 October 2026.
The postponement follows an application by the Coalition to Close Campsfield for disclosure and postponement of the inquiry. The Coalition argued that extensive redactions and the withholding of entire documents materially prejudiced its ability to understand and test the Home Office’s case, prepare expert evidence and participate fairly in the inquiry.
The material includes traffic information and assessments of lighting and ecological impacts withheld or redacted under the Secretary of State’s direction restricting the publication of sensitive information on security grounds.
The centre, which reopened in December 2025, would accommodate an additional 240 people if the proposed expansion is approved, increasing its capacity from 160 to 400 places.
The Home Office applied to the Secretary of State under the Crown Development Procedure. This procedure allows applications for nationally important Crown development to be made directly to the Secretary of State rather than to the local planning authority.
The centre has been the subject of longstanding public concern and sustained local opposition.
The Planning Inspectorate will issue a revised timetable for the inquiry in due course.
Link to case page: Planning Inspectorate, CROWN/2026/0000004
