'Urgent application' to house asylum seekers at RAF Barnham - EUROPE SAYS
The Home Office has submitted an urgent application to turn a Suffolk military base into accommodation for asylum seekers. Plans to use RAF Barnham, near Thetford, to house up to 3,750 migrants were revealed. . .
The Home Office has submitted an urgent application to turn a Suffolk military base into accommodation for asylum seekers. Plans to use RAF Barnham, near Thetford, to house up to 3,750 migrants were revealed last month. Multiple protestswere staged outside the base, and councillors unanimously agreed that the site was not suitable at a West Suffolk Council meeting. However, on Friday, Nick Timothy, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, said the Home Office had escalated the plans and was trying to secure a final decision from the Secretary of State,the Local Democracy Reporting Servicesaid. A Home Office spokesperson said it was “working with local authorities and others to fairly disperse asylum seekers across basic accommodation including ex-military sites”. It added that “Five military sites are either in use or being explored to house asylum seekers” across the country. According to Timothy, the Home Office submitted an “Urgent Crown Development” bid to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). This would enable the government to consider the proposals and make a decision. Timothy shared screenshots of a letter from the Home Office about the plans. The government body wrote to the MP to say that the application had been made due to the national importance in “responding to sustained pressure on the asylum accommodation estate” and reducing reliance “on hotels and other contingency accommodation”. It added: “The application enables the relevant planning issues to be considered, but it does not predetermine the outcome, and it remains the case that no final decision has been taken on the site’s future use. ”Tags:asylumasylum seekers