During Parliamentary Questions to Home Office Ministers at Westminster yesterday, Jonathan Djanogly, the Member of Parliament for the Huntingdon Constituency, raised with the Home Secretary the proposal for a detainee stopover centre in Great Gransden.
Mr Djanogly said: "I met with members of the Parish Council at my advice bureau in St Neots on Friday afternoon and was left in no doubt as to the strength of feeling there is in Great Gransden about this.
I therefore took the first available opportunity to raise their concerns direct with the Home Secretary. However, Mr Blunkett quite clearly ignored my question, which was nothing to do with the so-called 'nimbyism', but a genuine enquiry about the way this application has been made.
The Government clearly fails to understand that this sort of proposal, in a rural setting like Great Gransden, is bound to cause concern amongst local villagers and, leaving aside whether or not this location is suitable for such an operation, the Government should at least have the decency to undertake proper consultation with the community."