Piddington residents are threatening a legal challenge after Communities Secretary Angela Rayner granted full planning permission to accommodate more than 1,200 detained asylum seekers at nearby MoD Bicester in Oxfordshire.

The approval allows the military-base conversion to advance despite substantial local opposition, including a symbolic attempt by villagers to declare independence. It does not, however, settle whether the accommodation will open: the Home Office says a final decision to proceed has yet to be taken.

Parish council chairman Tim McNally said on Friday that villagers planned “many actions” in the coming weeks and ministers should “absolutely” expect a legal challenge.

He also suggested they could use the proposed Hillsborough Law. Once passed, that legislation would place a legally enforceable duty of candour on public officials and authorities during investigations and inquiries. Whether it could apply to this dispute remains unresolved.

Downing Street defended the scheme by pointing to security arrangements. The Prime Minister’s deputy spokeswoman said such accommodation was designed to be self-contained, with round-the-clock security and CCTV to minimise its impact on the surrounding community.

Asked about the women of Piddington, she said the Government understood the strength of feeling and would work with police and other partners to ensure security arrangements were in place. Public safety would remain its “top priority”.

Ministers want former military sites to help replace all asylum hotels. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has argued that the poorest communities should not receive all dispersed refugees and asylum seekers. The Home Office says its work towards a fairer distribution of accommodation has included savings of more than £1 billion since the election.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the plans a “betrayal of the women of Piddington” and accused Labour and Rayner of disregarding the law and women’s and girls’ safety. After visiting, she described villagers as terrified and said their concerns had been ignored. She argued that the prospective male occupants were in Britain illegally and should be deported rather than accommodated at a site she considered unsuitable.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp and Reform UK home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf also visited on Friday. During an exchange outside the village hall, Philp accused Yusuf of being “disingenuous” about the Conservatives’ record and urged him to stop point-scoring.

For Piddington, planning permission is now a reality, but occupation is not. The Government still has to decide whether to use the site while residents prepare to contest the scheme.