Many local residents oppose the asylum centre plans

Two district councils are taking legal action to stop asylum seeker centres being built.

Rushcliffe Borough Council in Nottinghamshire and Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire are mounting a joint challenge to government plans for accommodation centres in their areas.

A Home Office spokesman said it will appoint an individual as an independent monitor to oversee matters at the proposed accommodation centres and report back on conditions there.

But the two councils are arguing that the government has changed its plans.

They say the monitor will not be appointed until after the centres are built, despite earlier indications that the monitor would be in place before the centres opened.

Nonsense plan

The two councils are applying for a judicial review into the matter.

If the review is granted, the courts will decide if the government has acted within the law.

The centre will cost millions to build and the monitor may well rule that it is unsuitable after it has opened - resulting in a huge waste of taxpayer's money Rushcliffe Council Leader George Buckley

Rushcliffe Council leader George Buckley said: "The judicial review will argue that the wording of the legislation which required a monitor to be appointed is ambiguous and misleading.

"The monitor will not determine the suitability of the site before an accommodation centre is built, but will monitor the operation after it is built.

"This is nonsense.

"The centre will cost millions to build and the monitor may well rule that it is unsuitable after it has opened - resulting in a huge waste of taxpayer's money."

The cost of the legal action is estimated at �20,000.

Rushcliffe Borough Council has already set aside �250,000 for a public inquiry into the proposals, which is due to start on 8 April.

Cherwell District Council is also holding a public inquiry into plans to build a 750-place centre at an MOD site between Arncott and Piddington near Bicester.