These are the first pictures of a former RAF airbase being turned into asylum seeker accommodation for 1,700 people in Essex.
The first 50 asylum seekers who arrived on Wednesday to Wethersfield Airfield, around eight miles from Braintree, are people who were brought to a processing facility in Kent over the weekend from small boat crossings.
Cheryl Avery, director for asylum accommodation for the Home Office, said the site at Wethersfield will be “fully functional" by autumn with up to 1,700 single adult men there.
Speaking to the PA news agency at the site on Wednesday, she said: “We’ve got about 50 people arriving today from various locations, but they arrived at our facility in Kent at the weekend on small boats."
She said that when asylum seekers arrive at the processing facility in Kent they are screened, with biometric and health testing, and assessed for suitability for the Wethersfield site.
She said the cohort at Wethersfield will be single adult men and after Wednesday’s arrival of the first 50 people the Home Office will “ramp up".
"The plan is we will go to a maximum of 1,700 by the autumn, the site will be fully functional by that point," said Ms Avery.
There is an on-site GP surgery, accommodation blocks, a dining hall with meals three times a day, a multi-faith centre and recreation facilities including an indoor basketball court and a gym.
“We do have a shuttle bus facility that will take the asylum seekers on site out to the local area but it’s all managed really carefully and that’s done on a regular basis as well," said Ms Avery.
She said people would not stay at the site for more than nine months.
“We’re really conscious of the fact we don’t want people to be on the site for a long time," she said.
“We have a process whereby going through the asylum-seeking process they will be between six to nine months maximum and then they will be dispersed into another location if their claim goes beyond that.
“We don’t want people to feel they are stuck on one site or communities to feel that they are unnecessarily burdened."
She said the site is run by a contractor and manned 24/7 with CCTV cameras in place.
“We make sure that everybody is safe, both asylum seekers on site and the community as well," said Ms Avery.
"We’re also working really closely with Essex Police to make sure we run the site effectively.”
