John Prescott yesterday announced the approval of a 750-bed accommodation centre for asylum seekers.

The deputy prime minister overruled the independent inspector and the local council to give the green light to the scheme, on Ministry of Defence land near Bicester in Oxfordshire.

Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said the government would "waste no time" in pushing ahead with the project.

But local residents were angered by the decision, and experts warned that the size of the centres could lead to the institutionalisation of some asylum seekers.