Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government seeks to end the use of hotels.
Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times. There are around 32,000 asylum seekers currently being housed in hotels.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.
The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.
“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.
“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”
The plans for Crowborough Training Camp have prompted a mixed response among residents.
One local recalled that there had not been any problems when Afghan families, evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, were previously housed there.
Others expressed concern about the impact on local services, with one stressing: “There’s enough people waiting for [doctor’s] appointments.”
Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government seeks to end the use of hotels.
Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times. There are around 32,000 asylum seekers currently being housed in hotels.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.
The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.
“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.
“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”
The plans for Crowborough Training Camp have prompted a mixed response among residents.
One local recalled that there had not been any problems when Afghan families, evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, were previously housed there.
Others expressed concern about the impact on local services, with one stressing: “There’s enough people waiting for [doctor’s] appointments.”
Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government seeks to end the use of hotels.
Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times. There are around 32,000 asylum seekers currently being housed in hotels.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.
The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.
“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.
“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”
The plans for Crowborough Training Camp have prompted a mixed response among residents.
One local recalled that there had not been any problems when Afghan families, evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, were previously housed there.
Others expressed concern about the impact on local services, with one stressing: “There’s enough people waiting for [doctor’s] appointments.”
Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government seeks to end the use of hotels.
Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times. There are around 32,000 asylum seekers currently being housed in hotels.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.
The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.
“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.
“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”
The plans for Crowborough Training Camp have prompted a mixed response among residents.
One local recalled that there had not been any problems when Afghan families, evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, were previously housed there.
Others expressed concern about the impact on local services, with one stressing: “There’s enough people waiting for [doctor’s] appointments.”
Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government seeks to end the use of hotels.
Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times. There are around 32,000 asylum seekers currently being housed in hotels.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.
The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.
“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.
“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”
The plans for Crowborough Training Camp have prompted a mixed response among residents.
One local recalled that there had not been any problems when Afghan families, evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, were previously housed there.
Others expressed concern about the impact on local services, with one stressing: “There’s enough people waiting for [doctor’s] appointments.”
Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times. There are around 32,000 asylum seekers currently being housed in hotels.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.
The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.
“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.
“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”
The plans for Crowborough Training Camp have prompted a mixed response among residents.
One local recalled that there had not been any problems when Afghan families, evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, were previously housed there.
Others expressed concern about the impact on local services, with one stressing: “There’s enough people waiting for [doctor’s] appointments.”
