Ex-military bases more manageable than hotels for asylum seekers – minister

Harry Taylor, Press Association Political Staff

Home Office minister Anna Turley has defended the Government’s proposals to house asylum seekers in former military bases in the British countryside.

Ms Turley said the sites would be “self-contained” and were more manageable and affordable than housing those who have arrived in the UK illegally in hotels.

It came as the Government announced 13 hotels housing asylum seekers, including in Blackpool and Stratford-upon-Avon, were being closed.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said wealthier parts of the UK would have to “play their part” in housing asylum seekers. One proposed site is in Piddington, near Bicester in Oxfordshire.

The chairman of its parish council has said more than 1,200 people are set to be housed on the site, near a village home to 350 people.

Ms Turley told LBC radio it is a matter of “fairness” for asylum seekers to be housed in such areas. She said poorer areas with lower property prices had already taken their “fair share” of migrants.

Ms Turley said: “They’re not going to be in the village, they’re going to be contained in a former military base, they will be allowed out, everything they need will be on that site.”

She added: “We are looking at former military bases around the country, we’re also looking at former industrial sites, student accommodation, other means by which we can put people in secure places that is contained and is manageable – going back to the beginning of our conversation – is more affordable than putting people in hotels.”

On Tuesday Mr Burnham told GB News about the Oxfordshire site: “I will listen to what people are saying and respond to the concerns that they are putting forward.

“I don’t know the issue yet in detail, but in some ways, as I understand it, it is about creating secure space.”

The Prime Minister added: “It’s obviously going to be challenging, but I am prepared always to listen to people, to work with people, and to pick up legitimate concerns, and I will address those concerns.

“I do have to say, we cannot have a situation where it’s only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers. I do believe all parts of the country need to work, to play their part.

“We understand people’s concerns and I will look into the issues raised by the good people of Piddington.”

Ms Turley said closures of asylum hotels since Labour came into power had already saved £1 billion.

She told Sky News: “What we can’t see is what we’ve seen in recent weeks, where that overspills into aggression, hostility and violence, including against our emergency services, as we saw in Norfolk.”

She added: “The reality is, this is a military base that is outside the village.

“Instead, it’s self-contained. People there will be managed and processed properly with the services that they need there on site. We are looking to reduce the impact on local communities.”

Asylum seekers have been housed at various sites throughout the country, including at former military sites in rural areas such as at Wethersfield in Essex and Crowborough in East Sussex.

The Government has plans for more housing at former military sites, subject to planning permission and approvals.

The Home Office is assessing whether Barnham Camp in Suffolk could be used to accommodate men aged between 18 and 65.

Protesters last weekend gathered outside the former RAF base and unrest has broken out in nearby Thetford, Norfolk, where people are thought to have tried to storm homes linked to asylum seekers.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Piddington Parish Council chairman Tim McNally said: “The strain on resources locally is bad enough, but what impact will there be having a huge 1,250 (person) asylum centre campus?”

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