Key facts
- Thames Water said proposed accommodation blocks would be 20 metres from a sewage pumping station, per its written submission.
- A Thames Water senior development manager wrote of possible odour, noise, vibration, lighting, insects and flies for inhabitants.
- The Home Office plans to raise Campsfield House capacity from 160 bed spaces to 400 and convert existing buildings.
- Oxfordshire county council objected formally and called for the site to be shut permanently.
- A Home Office spokesperson said the department is confident in its plans and will engage with the Planning Inspectorate.
- The Home Office said nearly 80,000 people were returned or deported from the UK from the 2024 election to end-June 2026, up 52%.
Thames Water has warned that planned secure accommodation at Campsfield House immigration removal centre in Oxfordshire would be built 20 metres from a sewage pumping station, according to a written submission from the company. A senior development manager at Thames Water wrote that the proximity could give rise to "amenity effects, including odour, noise, vibration, lighting associated with maintenance activities, insects and flies" for any inhabitants.
In an earlier submission, the company wrote that any development may lead to sewage flooding. In its October submission, Thames Water said officials also "raised concerns regarding capacity within the foul water, surface water and water supply networks" in the local area, and it requested an impact study to establish whether the development would overload existing infrastructure.
The Home Office is planning to increase the centre's capacity from 160 bed spaces to 400 and to convert existing buildings, part of a push to expand the immigration detention estate by 40%. The centre near Kidlington re-opened in December 2025 after it was shut in 2018 following years of problems, including suicides, riots, escapes and complaints about conditions.
Oxfordshire county council has formally objected to the expansion, saying it risks intensifying existing public concern, and called for the site to be shut permanently. Campaigners against the expansion seized on the Thames Water warnings. Ally Swadling, lead legal education officer at the charity Right to Remain, said: "Thames Water's concerns about sewage infrastructure at Campsfield show how little regard is being given to even the most basic standards of sanitation and human dignity."
Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said: "Detention is a harmful, dehumanising experience that must only be used as a last resort." He called on the government to use community-based alternatives instead of expanding sites such as Campsfield House.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are confident in our plans for Campsfield immigration removal centre and will continue to engage constructively with the Planning Inspectorate as the process moves forward." The department said expanding detention capacity plays an important role in increasing removals of those with no right to remain in the UK. According to the Home Office, nearly 80,000 people have been returned or deported from the UK since the 2024 election to the end of June 2026, an increase of 52% on the previous two years. Thames Water said it had nothing to add to its response.