Plans for an asylum seekers' centre in Oxfordshire are to go ahead, despite the cancellation of a similar project in Worcestershire.

The Immigration Minister, Beverley Hughes, confirmed plans for the pilot centre at Bicester on Tuesday.

Asylum seekers' children will be educated within the centre.

The Conservative MP for Banbury, Tony Baldry, again urged the government to reconsider its plan.

He said asylum seekers would be "bored out of their minds ... I just think that against that background this experiment is likely to fail".

'Public inquiry'

He added that there had "not been a single organisation concerned with the welfare of refugees or asylum seekers who support what the government is putting forward".

Mr Baldry has joined calls by Banbury residents for a public inquiry into the proposal.

Those against the site staged a demonstration at Westminster during the debate on the issue.

It is thought that by scrapping plans for a similar site in Worcestershire, ministers can quell opposition to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill in the House of Lords.