A PETITION signed by more than 3,500 people fighting the proposed Throckmorton asylum centre has been ignored by the Government, claims mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff.

The petition was compiled by residents of Bishampton, Throckmorton, Pinvin, Wyre Piddle, Hill and Moor and other parts of Worcestershire as part of their campaign to persuade the Home Office to think again about the siting of the centre.

They claim it is not in the interests of the asylum seekers themselves.

It claims that the proposal is "contrary to national, regional and local planning policy, the site having already been expressly ruled out for any form of residential development in the structure plan approved by a Government inspector.

It adds that the centre would "overwhelm small local communities and that, following adjacent land use as the largest landfill site in the country and the emergency imposition of the regional foot and mouth burial site for 128,000 animals last April, this is an unacceptable burden on this small corner of rural Worcestershire."

Mr Luff was first told in early July that the Home Office would offer no response, after which he wrote privately to the asylum minister, Beverley Hughes.

He has now received a reply, which says: "It is unusual for the Government to make a formal response to a petition of this kind. The petition does not cover any new ground and our policies have been made clear many times on all the issues that are raised."

Mr Luff said: "The Minister is simply wrong. Most petitions on sensitive subjects are responded to by the Government. I have, for example, had helpful and sympathetic replies to my recent petitions on road safety on the A38 and A449.

"The Government owes the people of Throckmorton an explanation and it is not giving it to them."

Campaigning councillor, Liz Tucker, said: "It's very sad when a Government feels so confident of its absolute power that the views of 3,577 people in a tiny community should be so unimportant that they don't even warrant the price of a postage stamp to say thank you."