The former RAF Barnham base could be turned into housing for male asylum seekers (Picture: Martin Pope/Getty Images) Another village is considering voting to ‘become independent’ of the UK over plans to house asylum seekers nearby. The dust had hardly settled after Piddington residents in Oxfordshire held a symbolic vote to ‘leave the UK’ when a second village announced similar plans. Barnham in Suffolk is one of the rural spots where the government is considering housing more than 1,200 asylum seekers at a former RAF base on the outskirts of the village. Its parish councillors will head to Piddington tomorrow to learn from the move and see if it could inspire Barnham to become the second village to hold a protest vote. Councillor John Bauer, the chairman of the parish council, said: ‘We’ve seen what Piddington has done and they’ve had a fantastic impact. ‘They’ve really raised the profile of the whole issue. {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Piddington Council Chairman 'immensely proud' of vote","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/09\/16\/1739922094018641351\/480x270_MP4_1739922094018641351.mp4","description":"Villagers in rural Oxfordshire have voted in favour of leaving the UK in a protest against plans to house more than 1,200 male asylum seekers nearby.\n\nThe plan to house 1,256 lone male asylum seekers near Piddington has caused an uproar among the villagers, who claim the proposal has hit property prices and would bring crime.","duration":"T3M45S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.com\/1s\/2026\/09\/16\/12\/1789557949371_3296269191309532.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-09-16T11:24:48+0100","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); Jessika and Kerri Williams (right) said they are worried about the asylum seeker housing plans near Barnham village (Picture: James Linsell Clark / SWNS) ‘We would like to add our weight. If two villages work together, it would be far better than both villages working independently. ‘We’re aiming not to duplicate what they’re doing but to learn from it. ‘If a second village were to vote, even symbolically, to secede from the UK, it would be equally powerful.’ He said many villagers had told him they feel ‘powerless’ in the face of the plans. A placard for the far-right Restore Britain in Barnham (Picture: James Linsell Clark / SWNS) If the Home Office plans go ahead, the RAF Barnham site would be turned into housing for around 1,250 male asylum seekers aged between 18 and 65. The site would be ‘largely self-sufficient to minimise any impact on the local community,’ the Home Office said. Meanwhile, Barnham, a historic village named in the Domesday Book, is currently home to just under 600 people. The plan has evoked unease among some residents, including Kerri Williams, 51, who has lived in the village for half of her life. Barnham parish councillors will head to Piddington to learn about the recent independence vote (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo) She argued that if the people were women with kids, ‘it wouldn’t be so bad’. Kerri said she would like to give asylum seekers ‘the benefit of the doubt, but we just can’t’. The housing plans have prompted a protest camp outside the former RAF base located along the A134 between Barnham and Thetford. Flags, notes and placards have been attached to the gates, with slogans like ‘Thetford says no!’ and ‘Our kids and women won’t be safe!’ The plans, which could see around 3,750 asylum seekers housed across three former MoD sites, including in Piddington and Barnham, led to unrest and violence in Thetford in August. Protesters against asylum seekers threw eggs at homes believed to house migrants, and a police officer was bitten during the unrest. In Piddington, the far-right has been accused of hijacking the symbolic independence vote after figures like Danny Tommo and Restore Britain’s Rupert Lowe descended on the village of 350 people. Some 285 villagers voted in favour of separating from the UK in the referendum with almost 92% turnout. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.