Workers have begun converting an army barracks into accommodation for 600 male asylum seekers – despite furious opposition from locals in the small town next door.
Residents are in revolt over the plans for Crowborough Army Training Camp in East Sussex, with 2,000 people flooding the streets for a noisy protest yesterday.
But work has started to prepare the site, with a secondary security fence and residential huts erected, communal bins installed and high-speed fibre cabling laid out.
Edward Byrne lives nearby and has been watching the developments.
‘The Home Office may say it wants to consult with the population but surely this all points to the fact this is a done deal,’ he told the Mail.
‘It looks like they will just push the plan through anyway.’
The base – which is near the town of Crowborough – is being hastily converted into asylum accommodation as part of Labour’s bid to reduce the use of hotels, which cost taxpayers nearly £6million a day.
It coincides with a broader drive to toughen up the UK’s asylum system through a series of Denmark-style reforms unveiled today by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
There will be reviews of refugee status every 30 months, with people returned if their home countries have become safe.
But the announcement already risks being overshadowed by a revolt among Labour backbenchers over proposals to seize migrants’ jewellery.
Work has begun to transform Crowborough Army Training Camp into a temporary home for 600 male asylum seekers
Workers were seen installing a perimeter fence and setting up residential huts
Locals claimed the developments suggested the plan was a ‘done deal’
With the Home Office determined to reduce the number of asylum seekers in hotels, Crowborough has emerged as a local flashpoint.
Joanna Ince, whose farm is located close to the training camp, said locals should be given more time to explain why the site is ‘unsuitable’.
‘The announcement was just dropped on us from a great height with no consultation and no detail and it is the fear of the unknown that is really worrying people.
‘There doesn’t seem to be any firm plans to consult with ordinary people and ask them about whether these plans are suitable.
‘I think we should be able to tell them why it isn’t suitable.’
Another resident, Deena Reid, added: ‘It’s absolutely infuriating.
‘The Home Office is just going to plough through with this deeply unpopular move. They are opening themselves up to a legal action.’
Sunday’s march followed an angry public meeting where local politicians were shouted at and chased out of the community centre hall on Thursday night.
Some of the 20,000 residents of Crowborough say they fear for their safety and are installing panic alarms. And pointing out it is already difficult to make an appointment with a GP, they raised concerns about migrants being registered with local surgeries.
Kim Bailey, who chairs Crowborough Shield, a local group that is challenging the Home Office on the issue, has raised more than £12,000 to fund legal action. She said: ‘The strength of feeling is just incredible. Their whole plan is wrong.’
Under the Home Office’s proposals, the 600 men would be free to come and go.
But anxious locals fear there is too little police cover in the countryside town – which borders Ashdown Forest, the setting for the Winnie the Pooh stories – to tackle any crime.
‘This is a very rural area, surrounded by forest,’ Ms Bailey said. ‘If crimes were to happen, they are going to go unheard.’
The Home Office has said public safety ‘remains our first priority’.
Protesters in Crowborough, East Sussex, hold placards and march through the town centre on Sunday
A separate protest in Inverness on Saturday, where one sign read ‘600 unnamed individuals, single men, free to roam’
Wealden District Council has written to the Home Office asking whether it intends to consult with local residents before a final decision to proceed with plans had been taken.
The camp and barracks were previously used to accommodate Afghan families evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021 before they were resettled elsewhere.
The camp itself has a proud history going back to the war, when it was used by Canadian forces preparing for D-Day.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
Protests have also been sparked by a separate plan to house migrants at a base in Inverness.
Hundreds took to the streets in the city on Saturday to voice their concerns at the proposal to house more than 300 male asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in the city centre.
War heroes and pensioners joined parents and children making their views of the unwelcome move – which will see a historic veteran’s association turfed out of the complex – known.
Inspired by Denmark’s crackdown, Ms Mahmood wants to quadruple the length of time asylum seekers wait for permanent settlement to 20 years.
There will be reviews of refugee status every 30 months, with people returned if their home countries have become safe.
But Government sources desperately played down reports that they could emulate the controversial ‘jewellery law’, which allows officials to confiscate illegal immigrants’ valuables on arrival.
Home Office minister Alex Norris wriggled as he was grilled about the suggestion – which has enraged backbenchers – in TV and radio interviews this morning.
Pressed on whether the likes of wedding rings could be taken from Channel arrivals, Mr Norris told Sky News: ‘In the instance you’re talking about, no, of course not.
‘If someone comes over with a bag full of gold rings, well, that’s different to what I said about the heirloom.’
He indicated that identifiable assets such as e-bikes could be seized to help fund accommodation, which is costing the taxpayer billions of pounds a year.
One Government insider highlighted the case of an asylum seeker who was receiving £800 each month from his family and drove an Audi, but had free housing at taxpayer expense. ‘That isn’t right,’ the source said.
Other changes mooted include weakening the right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights and restricting the number of appeals allowed against refusals for asylum.
The Home Office has also announced a ban on visas from three African countries – Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo – if they do not co-operate more on the removal of illegal migrants.
However, Ms Mahmood’s ‘moral mission’ is facing massive resistance from Labour MPs, who accused her of trying to ape Reform’s hardline policies.
There are claims that at least one minister is on ‘resignation watch’, with MPs describing the proposals as ‘disgusting’ and ‘performative cruelty’.
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