The number of asylum seekers housed at a controversial ex-RAF base Sir Keir Starmer pledged to close is set to increase by more than 200.
Wethersfield, a former airbase in Essex, will see capacity rise from 580 to 800 with a phased increase in its population expected to take about eight weeks.
Two weekly cohorts of 30 men aged 18 to 65 will be sent from next week to the ex-military base, which is currently holding 560 migrants, according to local councillors.
Most of those accommodated at the site have arrived on small boats crossing the Channel.
Starmer said in the run-up to July’s election that Wethersfield “needs to close”, with problems at the site including fights, scabies outbreaks, hunger strikes and suicide attempts since it started housing asylum seekers in July, 2023.
Another ex-military site, RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, previously earmarked to house migrants, will no longer be used while the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset, which housed just under 500 men, has closed.
Small boat crossings have continue to surge, with more than 25,000 people crossing the English Channel since Starmer became Prime Minister last July.
Wethersfield is in the constituency of James Cleverly, the former Home Secretary, who had previously opposed plans to use the site for housing migrants.
The phased increase to 800 was confirmed to parish councillors at a meeting with the Home Office this week.
Andrew Hull, chairman of Wethersfield Airfield Scrutiny Committee (WASC), a group whose members are from 13 parish councils, told The i Paper: “Different government, same lies.
“You would assume, given the first opportunity, they would close the site down. But it seems, given the first opportunity, they’ve actually doubling the capacity of it.
“It never has, it never will be value for money.”
He also questioned why reports about potential contamination at the site could not be disclosed by the Home Office without a Freedom of Information request.
Last year, The i Paper revealed Home Office ministers were repeatedly warned there was a “significant” risk that housing migrants at former military barracks like Wethersfield instead of hotels would not cut costs as ministers claimed.
Senior Home Office officials raised concerns over the cost and feasibillty of using temporary modular accommodation for asylum seekers at MDP Wethersfield and Scampton, internal Government memos showed.
Nick Godley, chair of Wethersfield Parish Council, said there was “anger” at the decision from the Home Office to raise numbers at the site.
He said. “We’re also very cynical about whether this increase to 800 will actually happen, because in the past, whenever they’ve increased numbers much above where they are now, trouble starts because they can’t generally cope.
“There are very regular visits from the emergency services out there.”
Labour’s election manifesto said it would “end asylum hotels, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds” when it was in Government.
But this month, the Home Office’s top civil servant admitted hotels are set to continue to be used to house asylum seekers for up to the next four years.
Wethersfield was initially identified as a site to accommodate 1,700 migrants, referred to as service users.
But a special development order (SDO) last April limited the operational capacity to 800 users, with an additional 420 ‘surge’ capacity.
Under the SDO, the Home Office secured planning permission to use the site for asylum seekers with 27 conditions, four of which relating to the 800 migrant cap were still outstanding.
The parish councillors say they were told this week that those conditions had been discharged with a staged increase of service users now planned.
At first, numbers will increase to 650, with the next milestone of 725 before the capacity of 800 is reached.
With 20 asylum seekers leaving each week and 60 due to arrive it’s expected that it will take eight weeks to reach the 800 capacity.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government inherited an asylum system in chaos with asylum accommodation under unprecedented strain. As part of our commitment to end the use of hotels, we are increasing capacity at Wethersfield to 800 beds.
“Reducing hotel use will minimise the impact asylum seekers have on our local communities and services, and help cut the astronomical cost of asylum accommodation.
“We continue to work closely with local community leaders in Braintree on our plans for the Wethersfield site, and ensuring the safety and security of that local community remains our first priority.”
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