First migrants bussed into former military barracks in middle of the night despite local fury

The coach, with a police escort, was driven onto the camp at Crowborough, East Sussex, in persistent rain just before 3.30am today.

The controversial plans to house asylum seekers at the site were revealed by the Government last October as part of its pledge to end the use of asylum hotels. It sparked fury from local residents with Wealden District Council voting unanimously against the scheme and thousands of protesters walking through the town.

Today, the Home Office confirmed the first 27 migrants have been moved into the site which will be scaled up to more than 500. 

They will only be housed there for up to three months while their asylum claim is processed before being removed from the country if their claim is rejected.

On Wednesday, Wealden District Council claimed the Home Office is "trying to avoid" applying for planning permission to change the use of the army camp, instead relying on permitted development rights which have been completed.

But the authority added the direction "highlights a range of issues and inconsistencies" with what the Home Office previously told WDC.

Leader of the council, James Partridge said: "Planning law exists to protect people and places.

"It says that changes to the use of land and buildings must be properly assessed for their impact on landscapes, noise, safety, traffic and the environment, and that communities should have a voice in decisions that affect them.

"No organisation, however large, can bypass proper scrutiny when communities are affected and we will continue to push for the Home Office to comply with the law on this."

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Illegal migration has been placing immense pressure on communities. “That is why we are removing the incentives that draw illegal migrants to Britain, closing asylum hotels that are blighting communities. 

"Crowborough is just the start. I will bring forward site after site until every asylum hotel is closed and returned to local communities.  "I will not rest until order and control to our borders is restored.”

Kim Bailey, chairwoman of the Crowborough Shield campaign, said "We will be considering with our legal team the possibility of obtaining an injunction to prevent occupation (or further occupation) of the site and in any event will be continuing our judicial review which the Home Secretary has shamefully failed to properly participate in.

"Most incredible of all is the Government’s statement in the Direction that ‘there is no evidence to indicate that asylum seeker accommodation results in a perceived or actual increase in crime, or fear of crime including with regards impacts on the health of people living nearby'.

"This is plainly and simply a lie. Crowborough Shield has filed multiple witness statements in its judicial review evidencing such perceptions and fears and describing their impact."

The Home Office insists robust safety and public‑protection safeguards are in place at the camp. 

Specialist security are on site 24/7 with CCTV and strict sign-in procedures for residents and all asylum seekers will have been screened against policing, criminality and immigration databases and will have completed initial health checks before arriving.

The government has pledged to close every asylum hotel by 2029, with so-called large sites a key part of Labour’s plan to do so.

But residents claim the area around Crowborough barracks lacks the infrastructure and facilities to cope with an influx of hundreds of male migrants, who will be free to come and go from the base.

They argue that it will also deprive the military of a key training facility for the 12,000 cadets a year who use Crowborough to learn to operate in heavily wooded terrain.

Some 36,273 are staying in taxpayer-funded hotel rooms, a 13% rise compared to June’s figure of 32,041, while 66,232 are living in communities across Britain.