Home Office Set to Release Northeye Site
HUGH SULLIVAN
A senior civil servant at the Home Office confirmed last week that the former prison premises of Northeye on the outskirts of Bexhill are no longer being considered as prospective accommodation for asylum seekers.
The site was purchased by the UK government in September 2023 at a price of £15.3m despite known risks of asbestos contamination (see Home Office Slated Over Northeye Purchase in HIP 265). The original purpose, as stated by the then Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, was to provide basic accommodation for up to 1,200 adult male would-be immigrants on a voluntary basis. Later, following the enactment of the Illegal Migration Act, plans emerged to use the premises for detention of men deemed to have arrived illegally – in particular, those crossing the Channel on small boats.
Humanitarian campaigners such as Bexhill Stand Up to Racism and local pressure group No to Northeye pointed out multiple flaws in these schemes, and the change of government in July this year put them on hold. Now the Home Office is reported to be considering instead the purchase of hundreds of smaller properties to substitute for current placements in hotel accommodation and has decided that the Northeye site “is no longer needed”.
Sir Matthew Rycroft, the department’s permanent secretary, told a public accounts committee: “We will be working with our colleagues to see if it would be suitable for any other part of government and, if not, then we will be selling it.”
Last year, then Bexhill and Battle MP, Huw Merriman, a junior Minister in Rishi Sunak’s government, refused to condemn the Home Office plans. However, his successor, Dr Kieran Mullan, has lost no time in approving their reversal. He issued a statement: “I want to thank campaigners and cross-party councillors across all layers of local government for fighting against this plan…I’ve done all I can to support them. I am especially pleased for the residents of the Northeye Estate for whom the uncertainty and worry is over.”
Uncertainty will, however, continue. The site is zoned in the Rother Local Plan for potential housing development, but the National Audit Office investigation into the purchase revealed that repairs to buildings at the site, including contamination clean-up, were estimated to cost more than £20m. Who is going to meet that cost, and when?
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