Call for more details on East Sussex asylum camp plan

On June 29, members of Wealden District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee discussed their next steps in relation to the use of the camp as asylum accommodation.

In May, the committee agreed to write to the Home Office to ask about indications the government may be seeking to extend its use beyond 12 months.

Since then, the Home Office has announced its intention to extend its use until 2030.

Chris Bending, the council’s corporate director for place, updated members.

He said: “Events have been moving fairly rapidly around the camp. Many members of the committee and other members of the council visited the camp shortly [after the May meeting] … so some of questions have been answered, but that probably also leads to other questions to be asked.

“Subsequently, as you all know, the Home Office announced their intention to extend the use of the camp to 2030. Again that is likely to have fostered a whole different set of questions and answered others.

“We are in the process of`drafting that letter. It will be circulated to members of the committee in the coming days.

“Obviously, all members of the committee please do feel free to add and suggest amendments to questions. We will collate that and get that circulated to the Home Office as soon as possible.”

Cllr Michael Lunn (Con) said questions had been put to Home Office representatives during the site visit. He asked Mr Bending whether any answers had been provided.

Mr Bending said the council had not received any additional information from the Home Office.

Cllr Lunn asked whether the letter the committee would send to the Home Office would address “some of the planning issues” related to the intention to extend the use of the camp as asylum accommodation.

Mr Bending said the letter could cover planning matters if the committee wished it to do so.

Liberal Democrat councillor Gareth Owen-Williams asked if the Home Office had said how long precisely it intends to operate the camp as asylum accommodation.

Mr Bending said: “We know the government have announced their intention to use the camp until 2030. I don’t know if that is the start or end of 2030 — the language use simply says ‘to 2030’.

“They have been very unclear about what method they intend to use to secure the relevant consents to do that. They say they haven’t worked that out yet and will be working and discussing that with the council and other parties, presumably including other government departments, around the consenting methods that would be put in place.

“When we know more, we will share more. I suspect that will be weeks or months, rather than days, I am afraid.”

The committee raised questions about the camp when it last discussed the topic in May, including around what funding would be tied to the camp’s operation and what services were being provided within the camp.

During the course of the May meeting, several councillors had also been critical of the Home Office’s approach to communications around the camp, arguing it had resulted in confusion and misinformation.

Mr Bending said the council had been attempting to persuade the Home Office to improve its approach to this matter.