Home Office hit with planning contravention notice over asylum seeker site plans

The Home Office announced last month that it would accommodate up to 600 asylum seekers on Crowborough Army Training Camp in Ashdown Forest.

The move is part of an effort to end the practice of placing refugees in hotels.

But the district council has previously criticised the plan and the Government's approach to choosing the site.

It has now served a PCN on the department to obtain detailed information on the building works currently underway and those planned for the camp.

The notice is also aimed at "understanding, from the Home Office, the basis on which they deem the works to be lawful", a council stated said.

It added: "This will help to identify whether there are any grounds for challenge in relation to planning law or more generally."

News of the district council's interest in launching a legal challenge emerged in early November, when the local authority published a letter it had sent to local MP Nusrat Ghani.

At the time, the council also claimed the Home Office had failed to engage with all relevant public sector partners, including the town council, relevant stakeholder groups, local MPs, the voluntary sector and the local community itself on its plans for the site.

Responding to the criticism and potential for a legal challenge at the time, a spokesperson for the Home Office said: "We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels.

"This government will close every asylum hotel. Work is well underway, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities across the country.

"We are working closely with local authorities, property partners and across-government so that we can accelerate delivery."

Wealden's PCN comes a week on from a local residents' group successfully meeting their crowdfunding target for their own legal challenge over the site.

The group claim that the Home Office failed to conduct environmental, safety and risk assessments for the site.

They also allege that the use of emergency planning powers meant the Home Office bypassed planning laws, and that the duty to consult residents, local authorities and statutory agencies was neglected.

Adam Carey