The Home Office has apologised for the way it has handled and communicated plans to house asylum seekers at Crowborough Army Training Camp.
The apology from the Home Office’s Director of Asylum Accommodation, Andrew Larter, came at a Wealden District Council meeting this morning (Monday, 10 Nov) at which various councillors grilled Government officials and criticised its handling of the situation.
The poor handling, lack of transparency and information vacuum had left rumours and misinformation in the community, councillors said, including unfair criticism of local councillors. It had left local councillors unfairly in the firing line.
Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Rachel Millward said: “This has become an issue of safety. People need to be able to trust us, and the information vacuum was really severe. We were accused of secretly negotiating with you and people were told we had a decision-making role. This caused threats and real distrust in our community.”
She asked Mr Larter to make it clear these were not true. In response, he said: “The accountability for the selection and the running of this site runs through us as officials to the Home Secretary.”
Earlier in the meeting he said: “We apologise for the initial engagement and the impact that had on councillors and the local community. It’s really important to us that we build a relationship with you and that you and the local community have confidence in what we are doing.”
The chair of the council’s Scrutiny and Performance, Cllr Andrew Wilson, said: “This is a really good case study for how not to do things. I really hope the Home Office takes this episode away as a lesson of what not to do when you’re planning to move asylum seekers into a community. It has been very, very poorly handled.”
Among the many other councillors criticising the officials was Cllr Gareth Owen-Williams. He said the news had led to concerns from the community but no-one from the Home Office stepped forward to provide information. “Why did someone from the Home Office not come down. Why did you not take the lead. It was a very, very long two weeks.”
Cllr Brian Redman added: “People are frightened, and we are being asked questions we cannot answer. Please listen to these concerns.” And Cllr Chris Primett added: “There has been total and utter mismanagement of this by the Home Office.”
Repeating his apology Mr Larter said: “I completely recognise this criticism and we will take it back in our discussions with Ministers. I am sorry for the impact it had.”
One of the key issues was the criticism Wealden District Council took for not publicising the plans and whether the Home Office instructed the council to keep it confidential. The officials denied they asked the council not to share the information. Instead they insisted they had asked for a “confidential conversation”.
But Trevor Scott, the council’s chief executive intervened. He said the Home Office request on 10 October had very clearly and specifically been for an “in confidence briefing”.
The Home Office official, the Director of Asylum Accommodation, said: “We did ask for a confidential conversation but at no point did I restrict officers from sharing the information with local partners or elected members. I did not give an instruction of confidentiality.”
The Home Office officials were given a grilling by the local councillors clearly frustrated by the “information vacuum” from the Home Office, and the way the process had been managed.
Other information provided by the Home Office officials:
- The Home Office is only planning to use the site for 12 months
- It provided “absolute” assurance there are no asylum seekers currently on the site
- The camp will provide basic functional accommodation while asylum claims are processed
- It will house 540 male asylum seekers aged 18-65
- A security team will be on site 24/7. A Home Office oversight team will also be on site to make sure the camp runs as it should.
- Background checks will be done before asylum seekers are moved in.
- Asylum seekers won’t be detained but the site will be self sufficient and recreational facilities will be provided.
- Rudimentary healthcare will be provided on site so impact on health services will be “very, very small”
- There will be no new buildings constructed
- Home Office is still “working through” its community cohesion and impact assessment.