Home Office Confirms Use of Three Military Sites for Asylum Accommodation
The Home Office has announced that three UK military sites will be repurposed to house asylum seekers as part of its ongoing effort to move individuals out of hotels. The sites include MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire, RAF Barnham in Suffolk, and RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire. This move accompanies the closure of 20 additional hotels across the country, intensifying the government's drive to reduce reliance on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers.
As of the end of December, 30,657 asylum seekers were residing in hotels. Approximately 170 hotels are currently in use, a significant decrease from 400 in 2023, when a peak of 56,042 individuals were housed in this manner. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to close all remaining asylum hotels by 2029, linking the reduction in crossings to lower housing needs.
Starmer Defends Progress on Migration
On Thursday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that fewer Channel crossings mean fewer asylum seekers require housing, asserting that the system is "more under control" than under the previous Conservative government. He said: "In the first two years of this government, we have made really important progress on immigration. One of the tests of an outgoing Prime Minister is whether you leave the country in a better state than what you found it, and I am leaving it in a better state."
Starmer highlighted a reduction in net migration from nearly a million to about a fifth of that number, an over 80% decrease. He also noted that Channel crossings have declined, adding: "The steps we are taking are beginning to pay off, and at the same time, asylum hotels are closing. Now those are linked. Fewer crossings mean there are less people that need to be housed."
New Legislation and Extended Use of Existing Sites
Shabana Mahmood, expected to remain Home Secretary under a potential Prime Minister Andy Burnham, will introduce new legislation next week aimed at removing barriers to deportations. The Immigration and Asylum Bill will limit how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) can be used to block deportations and overhaul the Modern Slavery Act to crack down on late claims. A new asylum tribunal system with stricter appeal rules is also anticipated.
Ministers plan to extend the use of existing asylum sites in Crowborough until 2030 and Wethersfield beyond 2027. The MOD facility in Bicester was originally designated for asylum accommodation under Tony Blair but never used. RAF Barnham, formerly a nuclear weapons storage site, has been speculated for this purpose, and RAF Linton-on-Ouse was proposed under the Tories but scrapped in 2022 due to local opposition. Combined, these new sites could accommodate approximately 3,750 individuals.
Criticism from Campaign Groups
Campaign groups have expressed indignation, warning that military sites are inappropriate for housing traumatised individuals. Kamena Dorling, Director of Policy at Helen Bamber Foundation, stated: "We have repeatedly shown through clinical evidence that housing people in ex-military sites like RAF Wethersfield causes profound and long-lasting harm to their mental and physical health. These sites are extremely isolated, resemble prisons with barbed wire and surveillance and lack privacy."
She added: "People forced to live there are often unable to access legal advice and other services. For individuals who have already survived conflict, persecution, torture and trafficking, being forced to live in such conditions compounds existing trauma and can have devastating consequences for their mental and physical health, including depression, suicidal ideation and self-harm."
Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, commented: "Rather than making appeals harder, the Government needs to be addressing why so many initial decisions are found to be flawed."
List of 20 Hotels Closing
The asylum hotels being closed are: Dayz Away Lodge – Dudley, West Midlands; Holiday Inn Ashford Central – Ashford, Kent; Best Western Atlantic – Chelmsford, Essex; The Cisswood – Horsham, Sussex; The Collection Hotel – Edgbaston, Birmingham; Adagio – Leicester, East Midlands; Norwich Hotel – Norwich, Norfolk; Allerton Court – Northallerton, North Yorkshire; Mercure George – Reading, Berkshire; TLK Apartments – Bromley, Greater London; Best Western Stoke – Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire; The Granby (1 The Hill) – Gravesham, Kent; Hampton by Hilton – Bristol; Delta Hotel Cheshunt – Broxbourne, Hertfordshire; Episode Leamington – Leamington Spa, Warwickshire; Oxford Witney Hotel – Oxford, Oxfordshire; Shambrook – Bedford, Bedfordshire; Bell hotel - Epping, Essex; OYO Evesham hotel – Evesham, Worcestershire; Best Western – Wembley, London.
