Couple living next to Crowborough Training Camp frustrated and concerned about impact of asylum seeker accommodation
A couple whose home is next to Crowborough Training Camp are voicing their concern and frustration about the impact the asylum seeker accommodation plan has had on their lives.
The Home Office announced on Thursday, January 22, that the first asylum seekers had been moved into the former military site.
The Home Office said the move is ‘part of the government’s mission to end the use of expensive hotels’ for housing asylum seekers. They added that the site will accommodate around 500 single adult males claiming asylum in this country.
But Phil and Christine Straker, who are retired, live right next to the site and are worried about the scheme.
Phil, 69, said: “We have got a barn, which is part of the old farm that borders the training camp. So we’ve got four acres, all of which border the camp. Our land also has a drive, which accesses into the training camp itself, and the main entrance we use we share with the training camp.”
Phil described Crowborough as a ‘very low crime area’ that has a ‘very peaceful rural community’.
But he said: “A couple of days ago I went outside and there were six police cars on the drive. Then, of course, you’ve got the protestors out in the evening so it all adds to a certain sense of ‘siege’.”
Phil said he used to think of his home as ‘a little place where we unlock the door at the beginning of the day and don’t lock it up again until the evening’. But he said that now he and Christine lock up every time they go out the door. Phil said: “Every time we go down to one of the workshops we have to lock it behind us. We’ve got a polytunnel and a greenhouse and my wife keeps bees. So all those activities are curtailed because she (Christine) doesn’t feel safe going down into our land.”
Phil explained that only a few asylum seekers have been moved in to the site at the moment. But he said the plan has already had a big impact on their lives. He said it is not just concern about the asylum seekers, who are unknown to them, but said it is ‘the whole thing’, including the regular protests in Crowborough and the increased police presence in the area.
Phil said: “We haven’t seen an asylum seeker yet but we already feel under siege because of the situation.”
He continued: “It’s not that we particularly expect to have any problems, however the potential for having problems has gone up.”
After buying the barn and four acres, Phil and Christine felt they had ‘created a lovely space’ for their retirement. But the couple feel they now have to take extra precautions. Phil said: “For example, my wife doesn't feel comfortable to go and walk the dog on her own anymore.”
Christine is a keen gardener too and spends a lot of time at the polytunnel in summer, which is 200m from the house. But now she feels she cannot enjoy these activities on her own.
Phil is particularly frustrated with the Home Office, saying they have been ‘terrible’ throughout the decision-making process about moving asylum seekers into the camp. He said there has been ‘no engagement’ with him and his wife.
He said: “We don't know whether there's 50 or 100 or 200 people there at the moment. If my neighbour wanted to build an extension he’d come and knock on my door and have a little chat with me about it.”
He said: “They (The Home Office) said they’ve done risk assessments and no one’s talked to us or approached us about risk assessments and we border the camp.”
Phil said he is particularly worried about the impact on the Cadets who were at Crowborough Training Camp, saying they have been ‘pushed out’.
Ideally, Phil said he would like to see the camp closed and said he does not believe it will shut after 12 months.
He said: “It’s just a very uncomfortable situation all round, made that much worse by the way it's been handled.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government is removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain.”
They said the government ‘will close every single asylum hotel’ and move asylum seekers into basic accommodation like military barracks.
The Home Office spokesperson added: “Public safety remains our first priority, which is why mandatory security checks are conducted on all asylum seekers through linking their biometric data to immigration, security and criminality databases.”
The Home Office has said the safety and security of communities around the site, as well as the staff and those accommodated, is ‘of the utmost importance’. The Home Office has previously said the Crowborough site will have specialist security 24 hours a day with CCTV and strict sign-in procedures for residents. The Home Office is working with Sussex Police to make sure appropriate security arrangements are in place. A fact sheet about the camp can be found at www.gov.uk/government/publications.