Dear friends,

Thank you again for supporting the campaign to Keep Campsfield Closed.

If you’re around tonight, the Home Office is holding a “public engagement event” in Kidlington about its plans to reopen an Campsfield, potentially by the end of this year.

📍 Exeter Hall, Oxford Road, Kidlington, OX5 1AB
Wednesday 3rd September
🕟 4.30pm – 6.30pm

This is a chance for local residents and others to see the proposed plans and speak directly with the project team. No registration is needed — just turn up.

🅿️ Free parking is available, and regular buses stop outside the Hall.

In July, the Home Office awarded a £141 million contract to private company MITIE Care & Custody to run the refurbished Campsfield centre for up to eight years. MITIE previously ran Campsfield until its closure in 2018, during a period marked by a major fire, suicide, and hunger strikes. Just last year, inspectors described conditions at another MITIE-run detention centre, Harmondsworth, as "truly shocking", “the worst" they had seen in immigration detention.

Local campaigners have said this new contract is “good for MITIE shareholders, but bad for people who may be detained and for the people of Oxfordshire”.

If you can join us tonight, please do. We know this is very short notice, but it’s important to have as many voices as possible there to ask questions and show concern. If you can’t, watch this space for further updates on how we can continue to oppose these plans together.

With thanks and solidarity,
The CKCC Team