Maps shows where military barracks will be used to house asylum seekers | News Politics

The Home Office has announced it is expanding the use of military bases to house asylum seekers, with three new sites set to open up in England.

Barracks are considered a less problematic alternative to hotels for accommodating those who have arrived in the UK to seek asylum, while their claims are assessed.

However, they are not without controversy, with questions over cost and their suitability from people on both sides of the immigration debate.

A plan to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in Inverness has been shelved, the local MP confirmed on Thursday, after outcry from locals and politicians.

Now, the Home Office has confirmed it is seeking planning permission for MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire; MOD Barnham in Suffolk; and MOD Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.

In addition, the use of Crowborough in East Sussex and Wethersfield in Essex is being extended until 2030 and beyond 2027 respectively.

Wethersfield is also being expanded to allow 1,200 more bedspaces for people awaiting a decision on their asylum claim.

The expansion in the use of military facilities across the country was announced alongside the closure of 20 asylum hotels, including the Bell Hotel in Epping which became a focal point for protests last year.

Border Security and Asylum Minister Alex Norris said the number of hotels used for this purpose had ‘more than halved’ from its peak of 400, with just under 170 currently active.

He said: ‘Instead, we’re moving asylum seekers into ex-military sites that are a far cry from the hotels the last government left us with.

‘This is a system being brought back under control – and we will not stop until the job is done.’

According to the Home Office, the closure of these hotels – alongside a further 11 announced in April – will save taxpayers £170 million this financial year.

Asylum costs as a whole have fallen by almost £1 billion, the department said.

The total number of people claiming asylum in the UK is also down 12% compared to last year, following the sharp rise that came with the end of the Covid pandemic lockdowns.

However, the use of military sites has been criticised by groups including the Refugee Council, which said the new announcement was ‘storing up problems for the next Prime Minister by repeating policies that failed in the recent past’.

The Council’s Director of External Affairs Imran Hussein argued the government could lower costs by ‘housing people in communities and improving Home Office decision-making’.

There are currently around 7,000 more asylum seekers living in dispersal accommodation – meaning flats or houses in communities around the country – than at the time of the 2024 general election.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, meanwhile, said the Labour government ‘should be putting illegal immigrants on a plane home rather than messing around with military camps and hotels’.

He said: ‘Only the Conservatives have the backbone and the plan to leave the ECHR and end the lawfare that blocks removals, so every illegal immigrant can be deported.’

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