Council 'bypassed' over Crowborough asylum camp

Government plans to extend the use of a former military training camp in East Sussex to house asylum seekers will bypass the council, the local authority has claimed.

Plans to use the Crowborough Training Camp to house up to 540 men were announced last year. The Home Office is seeking permission to continue to use the site until 2030.

Wealden District Council (WDC) said it had been told that the Home Office intended to seek planning permission directly from the secretary of state, bypassing WDC.

The Home Office declined to comment whether it intended to apply directly to the secretary of state.

The use of the site has been subject to multiple protests and significant legal challenge.

Council leader Rachel Millward said: "I want to be clear that the council remains opposed to the Home Office's use of Crowborough Army Camp as asylum accommodation and its route to seek planning permission.

"Although the council will not determine this application, we will examine the proposals carefully, submit our views through the formal process and make sure local communities have clear information about how and when they can have their say."

The Urgent Crown Development procedure, which WDC claims the Home Office intends to use, allows an appropriate authority to make a planning application directly to the relevant secretary of state.

According to the government website, it is a special procedure to speed up the process for determining a planning application where there is an urgent need to undertake nationally important development.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites.

"We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities."

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