People living in the village of Wethersfield in Essex have described the newly opened asylum seeker accommodation on the military base there as a “stalag”.
The Home Office’s controversial plans to accommodate some asylum seekers on military bases – RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire along with Wethersfield and the Bibby Stockholm barge that has docked at Portland in Dorset – has distressed residents who say their areas do not have the infrastructure to cope with the new arrivals.
Human rights and refugee campaigners have told the Home Office it is cruel to hold asylum seekers in conditions of “quasi-detention” in remote areas far from communities and support networks.
But the Home Office says the move is essential due to the spiralling costs of accommodating asylum seekers, who have arrived on small boats, in hotels.
A total of 1,334 people have arrived in the last four days the government has published figures for – although officials have not published a breakdown of comparative costs of military base and barge accommodation compared with hotels, which are now accommodating more than 50,000 asylum seekers.
Wethersfield airfield, a former RAF and US air force base, most recently used as a training centre for Ministry of Defence police, is in a remote location more than a mile outside the village of Wethersfield and about eight miles from the town of Braintree.
A narrow road leading from the village to the base has no pavements. Residents say they have sometimes been “run off the road” when walking along it by cars travelling too fast. They fear for the safety of the asylum seekers if they venture off the base on foot.
Drone footage shows rows of barracks, with just one reportedly in use since 12 July for the first group of arrivals – initially 48 and now 44 after two were deemed unsuitable to stay there and two others opted to stay with relatives. Officials have covered fencing in the area of the site the asylum seekers are accommodated in with brown tarpaulin.
A minibus parked at the main gate of the base, which the Home Office says can ferry the asylum seekers to Braintree, has blacked-out windows. It seems the government wants the asylum seekers to be as invisible as possible in this remote place. Rooms in the barracks that were previously occupied by one member of the military with a bed and a desk in them have now been converted to fit in one bunk bed and one single bed so three people are sharing a small room.
The Home Office has confirmed that one of the new arrivals is in isolation after being diagnosed with highly infectious scabies. The far right has targeted the base with protests against the new arrivals.
Local people say water and sanitation at the base have never been good and that since the asylum seekers arrived their water pressure has dropped. They warned the Home Office that the sewage system would not be able to cope with such a large number of people. The Home Office has brought septic tanks on to the site to deal with the sewage.
Local people hold a range of views about the asylum seekers although all are united in their opposition to accommodating them in such a remote and unsuitable area.
There was an incident in the village involving police cars and a helicopter soon after the group arrived. While Essex police sources confirmed there was no connection with the new arrivals, unfounded rumours circulated on village WhatsApp groups that some of the asylum seekers had escaped and were causing trouble.
A high court case about the lawfulness of the Home Office decision to place asylum seekers at Wethersfield is continuing. A judge found it was arguable that the government had acted unlawfully.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We engaged with the local community before the use of Wethersfield and continue to work with them and key partners to manage the site and ensure any concerns are addressed. All appropriate protocols are being followed in accordance with UK Health Security Agency guidance to manage one case of scabies currently at Wethersfield. The individual has been isolated and is being treated.”
Local people dispute that consultation has been carried out.
Mair Godley is distressed for both the asylum seekers and residents about the situation all have found themselves in without having any choice in the matter.
She said: “We are all dumbfounded by the speed with which this has happened. The Home Office don’t seem to understand that this is not just about us, it’s about two communities of human beings, both as important as each other.
“We have asked the guards on the base if we can talk to the asylum seekers but they just say no, we have to ask the Home Office. We want to find a way to bring the two communities together. The Home Office has made this place look like a stalag.”
