Committee publication · Correspondence · 3 June 2026
Letter from Wealden District Council relating to the use of Crowborough Training Camp for asylum accommodation 16.04.2026
From: Home Affairs Committee
Inquiry: Asylum Accommodation: Follow Up
Summary
Wealden District Council's letter to the Home Affairs Committee details failures in the Home Office's handling of Crowborough Training Camp's conversion to asylum accommodation. The Council criticizes inadequate pre-announcement consultation, secretive decision-making, midnight arrival of asylum seekers despite commitments for seven days' notice, poor ongoing community engagement, delayed funding, and contrasts the approach unfavorably with the MOD's transparent management of Afghan resettlement at the same site.
Key findings
- Home Office committed to sharing communications and engagement plans before public announcement but instead briefed press overnight on 27–28 October 2025 without informing the Council.
- On 21 January 2026, the Minister telephoned the Council Leader that asylum seekers would arrive 'within days'; they arrived at 3am the next morning under cover of darkness, violating repeated assurances of seven days' notice and daytime arrival.
- Home Office refused to share internal assessments, decision-making documents, evacuation plans, and detailed operational information, leaving local service providers planning based on oral commitments alone.
- First resident engagement meeting occurred two months after site opened, only after Council insistence; volunteer access delayed similarly despite Home Office acknowledging its importance.
- Funding confirmed 8 April 2026 (over five months after opening) and will arrive end June 2026; Council received no advance funding despite managing 64 Freedom of Information requests and unprecedented public anger since October 2025.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Wealden District Council, Home Office, Dame Karen Bradley MP, Minister Norris, Cllr James Partridge, East Sussex County Council, Sussex Police, Clearsprings Ready Homes
Notable line
“At 3am the next morning, just a matter of hours later, under the cover of darkness, the site was made operational and the first asylum seekers were bussed into the camp.”
Key Quotes
“This did not happen. Overnight between the 27 th and 28 th of October, following what we were told was a leak from within the Home Office, Home Office officials briefed members of the press about their plans. They did not inform the Council (or, we understand, other local agencies) of their change in stance.”
“On the 21 January 2026, the Minister telephoned the Council Leader to inform him that he had made the decision to use the camp and that first asylum seekers would be arriving at the camp within days. At 3am the next morning, just a matter of hours later, under the cover of darkness, the site was made operational and the first asylum seekers were bussed into the camp.”
“… the Home Office were clear about how important this was to the success of the camp – both for its residents and the impact on the wider community. It is built into their plans for the site (shared with WDC confidentially after the decision), but for the first two months of asylum seekers being on site, no such access was granted …”
“The site was run in a very different way by the MOD, with much more access to decision making, open discussions between the MOD and partner agencies and wide and varied volunteer support. Whilst not universal, the overwhelming local view of the MOD/Afghan family use of the site was positive.”
“The Council is not keeping a running total of the full cost impact on our services as a result of the Home Office decision, as much of this cost is officer time, as opposed to direct expenditure. However, it is fair to reflect that this issue has dominated the activities of the Council ever since the media briefing back in October.”
“The level of public anger, the volume of enquiries, emails, local conversations, resident complaints, social media posts, emails to councillors etc. has been at a level never experienced before and which we were not geared up to manage.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗