A group of 27 asylum seekers were in the first wave to be moved to Crowborough training camp in East Sussex in the early hours – with Shabana Mahmood branding it ‘just the start’
The first asylum seekers have been moved into a military barracks in Sussex, the Home Office has announced.
A group of 27 were in the first wave to be housed in Crowborough training camp in the early hours of Thursday morning. The Government has vowed to ramp up the use of disused Ministry of Defence sites in order to slash the number of people in asylum hotels.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Crowborough is just the start. I will bring forward site after site until every asylum hotel is closed and returned to local communities.
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“I will not rest until order and control to our borders is restored.” The use of the site has proved contentious, with several marches held since it was first mooted as an asylum centre.
The Home Office says people will only be housed at Crowborough for up to three months while their asylum claim is processed. They will be removed if their application is turned down, officials said.
The Government says less than 200 hotels are being used to house migrants – down from over 400 under the Tories. Labour has vowed to close all the remaining hotels by 2029, with Keir Starmer saying he hopes to do so sooner.
Wealden District Council has voiced its opposition to the site being used for asylum seekers. Leader James Partridge said: “Despite our strong objections, the [Home Office] minister [Alex Norris] has not listened to us.”
In a video posted on Facebook he said the council was investigating a legal challenge. But the Lib Dem councillor went on: “We all have to recognise that it is very likely that the camp will open.
“Whilst we know a lot of people will be angry, frightened and worried about this, we’re going to have to try and find a way to make the best of it and certainly not make matters worse.”
The Home Office said everyone housed there has been screened against policing, criminality and immigration databases. They will also have completed initial health checks before arriving.
There were 36,273 people staying in asylum hotels in September, while they await a decision on their asylum claims. The number peaked at 56,018 at the end of September 2023 under the then-Conservative government but dropped to 29,561 in June 2024, just before the general election.