Al Hopkins

Member of Oxfordshire Lowland Search & Rescue Team - helping TVP search for vulnerable people.
Instructor with UKLSI - training those to search and rescue

[Al Hopkins @LeopardTraining]

@SeanWill92 Constitutionally yes BUT that’s over 74, 353 voters. We are a village of <300 - wrong site wrong place

[Tim McNally @PiddingtonRoars]

🌍 HOW A TINY OXFORDSHIRE VILLAGE ROARED — AND THE WORLD HEARD IT

It started with Piddington.

A village of only a few hundred people facing a proposal for asylum accommodation for up to 1,250 men at nearby MOD Bicester Site A.

The village decided it would not simply disappear quietly into a government planning process.

It roared.

What happened next was extraordinary.

🇬🇧 BBC. Sky News. The Times. The Telegraph. The Guardian. The Independent. The Sun. The i. GB News. Times Radio. Channel 5. LBC.

Then Piddington crossed the Atlantic.

🇺🇸 CBS News. CBS Mornings. The Wall Street Journal. Washington Examiner. Newsmax. Daily Caller. Sinclair’s National News Desk. Breitbart.

Then it travelled further.

🇳🇿 New Zealand radio.

🇬🇷 Greek national media.

And some enormous individual voices entered the conversation:

Elon Musk. John Cleese. Matt Goodwin. Nadhim Zahawi. Edwina Currie. Allison Pearson.

Eventually even the Prime Minister was being publicly questioned about Piddington.

A local planning dispute had become a national argument about proportionality, infrastructure, consultation, democracy and whether communities have a meaningful voice when Whitehall makes decisions for them.

Now councils and political parties are discussing legal challenges to the Government’s wider asylum-accommodation strategy.

Think about that.

One tiny Oxfordshire village.

One roar.

And a story that travelled around the world. 🌍

We never needed to be the biggest.

We just needed to refuse to be ignored.

🐻 PIDDINGTON — THE VILLAGE THAT ROARS.

#Piddington #PiddingtonRoars #TheVillageThatRoared #Oxfordshire #Bicester #Democracy #LocalGovernment #UKPolitics

[Al Hopkins @LeopardTraining]

@annaturley @ukhomeoffice @ChrisWebbMP If you are right and honourable go to Piddington to see what you are asking that village to do. How can a village with no amenities absorb 1250 humans. It’s inhumane for all concerned

[Al Hopkins @LeopardTraining]

@JeremyVineOn5 These could be used - BUT to drown a village with that many people is unbelievable. Also the site is question is a slab of concrete with a few warehouses on it. How much money will it cost to get water, sewage etc put in let alone the sleeping facilities???

[Tim McNally @PiddingtonRoars]

PRIME MINISTER ANDY BURNHAM — COME TO PIDDINGTON. @andyburnham

See what Whitehall sees only on a map.

A village of 350 people.
46 children.
No shop.
No pub.
No substantial infrastructure.

Drive the fast rural roads — stretches with no pavement and no safe pedestrian route to the nearest town, six miles away.

Now consider the proposal: accommodation for up to 1,250 male asylum seekers on the edge of our village. More than three times our entire population.

Explain to our 46 children and their families how a development of this scale will work safely.
Tell us where the infrastructure is.
Tell us what the policing plan is — because when we asked, none was provided.

Cherwell District Council has stated there was no prior engagement or consultation before the announcement. Explain why.

You have spoken about giving places outside Westminster a voice. Ours is clear.

96% of those voting supported a referendum on our future.

We are not asking you to read another letter. We are asking you to come here.
Walk the village.
Meet the residents.
See the roads.
Answer the questions.

Do not make decisions about Piddington from Whitehall.

350 people.
46 children.
One village that refuses to be ignored.

We are Piddington.
THE VILLAGE THAT ROARED.
#Piddington
#PiddingtonRoars
#thevillagethatroared
#powertoeverypostcode
#bicester
#oxford
#oxfordshire
#aylesbury
#Banbury

[Al Hopkins @LeopardTraining]

@andyburnham @AngelaRayner Your silence is deafening.

[Al Hopkins @LeopardTraining]

@andyburnham - as you aren’t going to use Chequers why not put the seekers there? It’s already there, it’s already paid for - no burden on the tax payer!!!

[Tim McNally @PiddingtonRoars]

The Government says it’s handing power back to every postcode.

Except when that postcode is Piddington!

When it comes to the proposed Bicester MOD Site A asylum centre, local voices, local democracy and local consent appear to count for nothing.

You can’t claim to devolve power while overruling the very communities forced to live with your decisions.

Piddington. The Village That Roars. 🐻🇬🇧 #LocalDemocracy #Piddington #Devolution

[PiddingtonRoarsNews @PiddingtonNews]

Today @andyburnham says, “I know what it’s like to be ignored by politicians in Westminster. I’m not going to make the same mistake now I’m PM.”

👆Please don’t ignore us, Prime Minister
🗣️ It is not too late
❌ Don’t make us your mistake

@andyburnham #SavePiddington

[PiddingtonRoarsNews @PiddingtonNews]

@GBNEWS Could we ask @realDonaldTrump to save #Piddington ? #asylumcrisis

We need @andyburnham to hear us…

A rural UK village of under 350 to get 1250+ asylum seekers

[PiddingtonRoarsNews @PiddingtonNews]

#Piddington features in @Telegraph @AllisonPearson

“The current national mood is summed up rather well, I think, by the villagers of #Piddington” @PiddingtonRoars

[Al Hopkins @LeopardTraining]

@MrBarton2U @GBNEWS Our Parish council are doing all they can with village support. But alas the silence from Gov is deafening We don’t want any burden on the tax payer policing marches etc. We are however the village that roared.

[GB News @GBNEWS]

'We would love to show him around and show him why this site isn't what the politicians think it is.'

Piddington resident Iain Darby shares how the Government's plans to house over 1000 migrants in the area will impact the local population of less than 400 villagers.

[PiddingtonRoarsNews @PiddingtonNews]

@andyburnham Mr Prime Minister…we are Piddington…please put your “Power to the Postcodes” pledge into practice.

Putting 1250 male asylum seekers on a site next to our rural village of just 350 people is a sign of Westminster gone wrong.

You can stop it!…

[PiddingtonRoarsNews @PiddingtonNews]

@WSJ We are the People of #Piddington

Our Chairman @PiddingtonRoars would love to speak to you

#Piddington #Oxfordshire #asylumcrisis

[PiddingtonRoarsNews @PiddingtonNews]

@andyburnham We are ready to chat to you about #Piddington

We don’t have a shop…or a pub…or a @GreggsOfficial but we can get you a homemade cup of tea!

@elonmusk has heard us from America…we believe in your vision of #postcodepower Let’s talk…

@PiddingtonRoars

[MrsW @wildmeadowltd]

@elonmusk @Benleo Thank you for highlighting our plight! #PiddingtonRoars @JohnCleese @antmiddleton