Sussex military camp housing asylum seekers might stay open until 2030
The Home Office says no decision has been made to extend the use of the Crowborough site
Last updated 11 hours ago
A military camp temporarily housing asylum seekers could stay open until 2030, a “dismayed” local council has said.
Wealden District Council said it had seen court papers showing Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex will have the option to remain open well beyond the 12 months originally planned.
The site could accommodate up to 500 adult male migrants while their claims for asylum in the UK are being processed, the first of whom moved in at the start of the year.
The council said it was disappointed by the Government’s “failure to communicate openly”.
The camp was handed over to the Home Office by the Ministry of Defence for a year, while longer-term accommodation options are found.
Border security and asylum minister Alex Norris previously told MPs the use of the site would be “temporary”.
The council said in a statement: “Wealden has been asking the Home Office formally about this for some time.
“Pressed finally to answer, the Home Office said no decision has been made.
“Once again, Wealden District Council’s council leaders are deeply dismayed and disappointed by the government and Home Office Minister in their failure to communicate openly key information about the use of Crowborough Army Camp as temporary asylum seeker accommodation.”
The Government has vowed to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament and announced plans to use the Crowborough base and Cameron Barracks in Inverness, Scotland as part of these efforts last year.
There have been a series of protests in Crowborough and a legal challenge from a local residents group over the scheme.
The camp was used to accommodate Afghan families evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021 while they were resettled elsewhere.
Council leader Rachel Millward, who is also deputy leader of the Green Party, said: “Everyone round here is wearily familiar with the Home Office’s inability to make a decision.
“People whose lives are directly affected by that are left guessing. Why can’t the minister have the courage to tell it how it is and outline a plan, instead of hidden conversations behind closed doors?
“The entire project has been disastrously handled by the Home Office with a shocking lack of communication. We struggle to understand how the Home Office can justify such poor mismanagement.
“Asylum seekers deserve to be treated with dignity and humanity, not left in unsuitable temporary accommodation with inadequate support and no transparency for either residents or the local community.
“We have asked the Minister Alex Norris for an urgent explanation.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We will continue to do whatever it takes to fix the broken asylum system we inherited by removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to the UK and increasing removals of those with no right to be here.
“We will close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament and are moving asylum seekers into more suitable accommodation.
“No decision has been made to extend the use of the Crowborough site.”