Thousands of protesters rally against Government plans to house migrants at former military base

Around 2,000 people, including mothers, led chants of "Starmer out" in response to the Government's plans for move 540 migrants into the accommodation in Cowborough, East Sussex, on Sunday.

Union Jacks and St George's crosses were carried alongside handwritten placards bearing slogans including "Protect Us. Protect our children."

The town is an area of outstanding beauty and shares a border with Ashdown Forest, which was AA Milne's inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood.

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During a public meeting on Thursday, private security guards had to step in when local politicians were chased out of the community centre hall.

Some residents in the town, which has a population of around 21,000, say that they are already installing panic alarms in their homes.

Kim Bailey, the chairwoman of Crowborough Shield, a grassroots organisation formed to challenge Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, said: "It's absurd what they are doing.

"Vulnerable men from war-torn countries, to Crowborough? You have the police firearms training centre and a public shooting range right there.

"People with PTSD who will be hearing gunshots all the time will be triggered by it and they are going to try to escape that environment.

"These are unvetted men — we don’t know who they are. This is a very rural area, surrounded by trees and forest.

"If crime were to happen, they are going to go unheard.”

Over the weekend, Ms Mahmood announced plans to reform the asylum system including the removal of the right to housing and weekly allowances and a 20-year wait to apply for permanent settlement.

However, Ms Bailey said: "Twenty years sounds reasonable, but it won’t make any difference to our current situation. It won’t make any difference to what happens here."

The Crowborough Shield campaign has raised more than £12,000 to fund legal action against the Home Office’s plans.

Wealden District Council, which is controlled by an alliance of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green councillors, has blamed the Home Office for an “information vacuum” that fuelled community tension and threats against local politicians.

Speaking to LBC News’ Steve Holden, Kim Bailey, the Chair of the Crowborough Shield residents’ group hit out at the Government’s plan to house migrants at the active military site.

“I think both the hotels and army barracks are equally appalling and not fit for purpose. I mean army barracks, especially the one here in Crowborough, it's used, it's not a disused army barracks. But what you've got is a lot of atrocities in the media. I mean it's almost hourly that we are seeing different at now.

“If you think these people have come from some war torn places that are going to be suffering with PTSD, you've got gun ranges, you've got the firearms police training centre. Either side of this training camp, you've got firearms going off constantly over there. You're in a military style accommodation. If there is any place to trigger mental health, that is going to be it.”

The Home Office previously apologised for its handling of plans to use the barracks in the town for 12 months, but said the aim to move them to military sites is part of Government pledges to end the use of migrant hotels.

Ms Bailey said: "We do not believe them. We know full well it is not going to be for only 12 months. Why are they spending millions on it if it’s only going to be there for 12 months?"

The Home Office says that all residents will undergo mandatory security checks and that “as part of their induction process, clear expectations are set out to asylum seekers staying at the site about their expected behaviour while on and off the site."

Kerrie Knight, an organiser of the Pink Ladies campaign, which protests against migrants being accommodated in hotels, said: "This is not about race or religion, this is about love.

"This is about risk and safety, this is about common sense."