Plans to turn former hospital into asylum accommodation scrapped, says MP

The Home Office and accommodation provider Clearsprings Ready Homes had sought to convert Esperance House, in Hartington Place, into dispersal accommodation for up to 125 people seeking asylum.

A spokesperson for the Home Of fice said it would not comment on an individual accommodation site, but added that ‘the government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, with tens of thousands of cases stuck in a backlog’.

Several local leaders publicly spoke out against the proposals and, on Friday, February 7, Eastbourne MP Josh Babarinde announced that the Home Office had decided it would ‘not be pursuing this site’.

Mr Babarinde said: “After making extensive representations directly to the Home Office and via the media, I am pleased that the Home Office finally accepted mine and our local councils’ arguments that the proposed Esperance House scheme was not appropriate.

“Eastbourne is a compassionate and inclusive town and we do play our part - but mass accommodation schemes like the one that was proposed are not the way, as national charities have also said.”

“It really is time for this Government to clear up the mess of the last one, where Channel crossings were allowed to spiral out of control.

"They need to double down on tackling dangerous small boat crossings, and on processing people much more quickly to get on top of this for all involved.

“Thank you to all those who have helped pile the pressure on the Home Office with sensitivity, compassion and humanity at heart.

"We are all human beings at the end of the day”.

Mr Babarinde said the Home Office ‘ultimately accepted’ and ‘agreed’ to the arguments he and the local councils made.

Stephen Holt, leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, said he made it ‘very clear’ to the Home Office that the site was ‘inappropriate’.

He said: "I am very grateful to our partners who joined us, particularly Sussex Police, East Sussex County Council and our local MP for their support.

"This is the right decision for our town."

The leader of the opposition, Councillor Robert Smart, also welcomed the decision, describing the proposal as ‘reckless’ and ‘deeply damaging to Eastbourne’s future’.

Cllr Smart said: “The Home Office has finally seen sense and abandoned its reckless plan to convert the former Esperance Hospital into a 125-bed asylum seeker accommodation centre. This proposal showed an appalling disregard for the future of Eastbourne.

“It was always clear that Esperance House was entirely unsuitable. It sits in a neighbourhood largely made up of elderly and vulnerable residents, right next to the heart of Eastbourne’s tourism and hospitality sector.

“Sussex Police raised serious concerns, and many of us warned about the damaging impact this would have on local businesses already under enormous pressure from rising costs and government tax increases.

“For the government to seek to take this site away from desperately needed housing for local families would have been an unforgivable mistake.

“While this decision is welcome, it should never have been considered in the first place.

"I will continue to hold the Council and government to account to ensure that sites like Esperance are used for the right purposes.”