Plans have been drawn up to send small boat migrants to six military bases around the country as ministers come under growing pressure to close asylum hotels.
A list of sites from Surrey to Cumbria – all of which could be brought into use within weeks – has been compiled by the Ministry of Defence, the Mail on Sunday can disclose.
The plan would see migrants accommodated on Army training camps where facilities have recently been upgraded but which are not currently being used by the military.
The bases include two sites in Norfolk, West Tofts and Wretham; Knook Camp in Wiltshire; Brunswick Camp in Surrey; Warcop in Cumbria; and Castlemartin in Pembrokeshire.
All the sites have been upgraded since 2020 and would be able to accept migrants immediately, defence sources have confirmed.
The camps would each be able to take several hundred migrants and house them in a secure, fenced location.
However, migrants are not detained at Home Office sites and are free to leave at any time.
An existing accommodation centre, Wethersfield in Essex, offers migrants a shuttle bus service to three nearby towns that runs seven days a week, 365 days of the year.
Anti-migrant protesters in Epping last summer. The government is facing growing pressure to close the asylum hotels
Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex which will house migrants. Residents in Crowborough have complained they were given no prior notice of the announcement and that many of their questions have gone unanswered
It is unclear when the new sites could open.
But the plans are expected to trigger a row with residents living nearby.
West Tofts and Wretham are located in a desirable part of south Norfolk, near the English Heritage prehistoric site Grime’s Graves.
Knook Camp is four miles from the market town of Warminster, which was mentioned in the Domesday Book.
Brunswick Camp is on the outskirts of Woking in the Surrey commuter belt, Warcop training camp lies on the edge of the Pennines and Castlemartin is just a few miles from sandy beaches in Pembrokeshire.
Defence sources said plans to house asylum seekers in military bases close to residential areas are proving ‘problematic’.
One source said: ‘Any attempt to move to place illegal immigrants in temporary camps is likely to meet with fierce resistance.’
Last week one local council said it was considering legal options to stop the Home Office using a previously-announced site.
Wealden District Council deputy leader Rachel Millward said the authority had sought legal advice after it was announced 600 people were set to be placed at a training camp near Crowborough, East Sussex.
It is considering launching a judicial review.
Residents in Crowborough have complained they were given no prior notice of the announcement and that many of their questions have gone unanswered.
One resident said: ‘If the government is going to place large numbers of illegal immigrants in army barracks they need to bring on the army to keep control.’
Another added: ‘We border the army camp and I’m very concerned about security.
‘Hopefully the police will be full time sometime soon in Crowborough.
‘There are so many unanswered questions. The infrastructure is just not here for any more residents – doctors, schools, transport.’
Col Phil Ingram, a former Army Intelligence Officer, told the Mail on Sunday migrants could be housed in tented camps.
He said: ‘Whether or not there are enough military bases to house 32,000 asylum seekers currently living in hotels remains to be seen.
‘The asylum seekers that enter the UK illegally by crossing the Channel in small boats or lorries should be treated in the same way refugees are across the world.
‘They should be housed in camps according to UNHCR standards until their asylum applications are processed and they are either allowed to stay or their application fails and they are returned to their home country or a third party country.
‘This doesn’t and shouldn’t automatically mean a hotel room or refurbished former military accommodation.’
Migrant accommodation on ex-military bases is now cheaper than migrant hotels, it emerged last month, vindicating the Tory government’s decision to set them up.
The cost of running existing large-scale centres – Wethersfield and Napier Barracks in Kent – has fallen below the bill of £145 per person per night faced by the taxpayer for hotels.
Napier Barracks now costs £108.58 per person per night, while Wethersfield costs £132, new data from the Home Office showed.
According to latest figures the Home Office is supporting 103,000 migrants at the taxpayers’ expense including just over 32,000 in hotels.
A damning report by MPs last month found the Home Office had ‘squandered’ billions of pounds on asylum hotels.
It blasted the department’s ‘incompetence’ over its handling of a ‘failed, chaotic and expensive’ system, adding that private accommodation providers had been allowed to make ‘excessive profits’ from the Channel crisis.
Labour has pledged to shut down all asylum hotels by the end of this parliament, in 2029.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The government is furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels.
‘That is why we will close every single asylum hotel – saving the taxpayer billions of pounds.
‘We have already taken action – closing hotels, slashing asylum costs by nearly a billion pounds and exploring the use of military bases and disused properties.’
The MoD was approached for comment.