Home Office applies to use Crowborough Training Camp as asylum seeker accommodation until 2030

The Home Office confirmed in its Crowborough Training Camp fact sheet that it has submitted its application for Urgent Crown Development to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

The MHCLG also announced the application for the Uckfield Road site, publishing the supporting documents at www.gov.uk/guidance/urgent-crown-development-application-crowborough-training-camp#planning-application.

The application (reference PCU/RARE/C1435/3379159) is for ‘full planning permission for the continued use of Crowborough Training Camp (sui generis) as non-detained asylum accommodation (sui generis) for up to 540 residents, together with associated site infrastructure’. It seeks continued permission for floodlighting, mobile lighting towers, CCTV cameras, temporary generators, modular ablution blocks, temporary kitchen ancillary units, security fencing and other operational infrastructure.

The news was met with dismay by Sussex Weald MP Nusrat Ghani, who said: “In effect, the Government is marking its own homework and is avoiding full and proper scrutiny through the usual channels.”

But the Home Office has said its application ‘enables the relevant planning issues to be considered’ and ‘does not predetermine the outcome’. It said: “No final decision has been taken on the site’s future use. Decisions on the planning application are being made independently by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.”

Conservative Nusrat Ghani continued: “As I said last year, the Home Office’s multi-million expenditure on the camp would be a long term project. The naysayers once again are proved wrong. I am encouraging anyone with an interest in Crowborough to go online and review the planning application.”

She added: “I also urge residents to contact their local councillors and Wealden District Council (WDC), the local planning authority and share their views. Residents can also sign my petition and I will continue to make representations to the Home Office.”

The Home Office had notified WDC on June 25 this year that it planned to use the camp for asylum accommodation until 2030. The Home Office had previously announced on January 22 that the first asylum seekers had been moved in, and said the plan is part of the government’s mission to stop housing asylum seekers in ‘expensive hotels’.

WDC has expressed its opposition to the plans. A message on WDC’s update page at www.wealden.gov.uk/crowborough-army-camp said: “The council opposes the Home Office’s decision to house asylum seekers at the Crowborough Army Camp. The council is deeply disappointed by the government’s decision to pursue the extension of the use of Crowborough Army Training Camp to 2030 and remains clear that large-scale accommodation sites are not the right approach for either local residents or those seeking asylum.”

People can read the Home Office fact sheet about the scheme at www.gov.uk/government/publications.

The fact sheet’s latest update said: “The Crowborough site provides basic, safe accommodation for asylum seekers and is designed to be as self-sufficient as possible. The site was recently used as transitional accommodation for the Afghan Resettlement Programme. The Home Office works closely with local authorities, police, and community partners to ensure the site operates safely and respectfully, with robust measures in place to support community cohesion and maintain public safety at all times.”

The Home Office also said it has been given permission by the Ministry of Defence to extend usage of the site until January 2030, subject to planning permission. It said: “This remains a temporary arrangement; we intend to return the site to MoD at which point it would cease to be used as asylum accommodation.

“Making use of existing basic accommodation on MoD sites such as the Crowborough site is just the first step in the government’s work to exit hotels and source more appropriate accommodation to meet our statutory obligations.”