MP Tony Baldry has called on Cherwell District Council to appeal against a High Court decision over a planned asylum accommodation centre near Bicester.

Mr Baldry wants the council to take the case to the Court of Appeal after Mr Justice Collins allowed the Home Office to press ahead with the 750-person centre.

The council brought the action at the Royal Courts of Justice after Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott overturned an independent planning inspector's decision recommending the centre should not be built.

Mr Baldry said: "No organisation involved in the day-to-day welfare of asylum seekers, from the Red Cross to the Refugee Council, nor an independent planning inquiry, believe that this is the right policy and this decision raises serious questions over the democracy of planning policy.

"This means the Government can put two fingers up to any decision at any public inquiry that they don't like."

Dionne Arrowsmith, co-founder of Bicester Action Group, said: "If there is any chance that the council can take this further then it has got to.

"The longer the council can draw this out the better and the closer we get to an election. It's we, as the people, who have got to keep the issue in the public domain because it's what Tony Blair wants off the political agenda."

Cherwell's leader, George Reynolds, said the council was disappointed by the outcome.

He said: "We will now be studying the written judgement very carefully to assess whether there are grounds for further appeal."

Lawrie Stratford, a Bicester district councillor and Cherwell's spokesman on the centre, said: "I am very disappointed. We have 21 days to consider whether or not we will go to the Court of Appeal and we have to take a measured view in consultation with out barrister on that prospect.

"It is very costly to go to the Court of Appeal and local people will have to pay through either their council tax to fund Cherwell's actions or through their national taxes to pay for the Government's action."

Immigration minister Des Browne said: "I hope that the local community will work with us as we develop our plans in Bicester and drive forward with our reforms to create an asylum system that all people can have trust and confidence in."