Decision on East Sussex centre for asylum seekers not likely to be made 'before Easter'

A public meeting to discuss the future of Northeye in Bexhill was held by the town’s MP, Huw Merriman this evening (Friday, January 26).

More than 200 residents attended to voice their concerns and views, with the debate becoming heated on several occasions during the evening.

A final decision on whether the proposals for the former prison would go ahead had been due to be made by the Home Office this month.

But ahead of today’s meeting, Mr Merriman said it was now looking unlikely that the necessary surveys and assessments would be completed by the end of January.

This evening at the meeting, held at St Augustine’s Church, he said: “I was told at the end of September 2023 that the surveys on the site would be completed by the end of 2023 or the end of January this year. As such I set this meeting up for the end of January. Unfortunately we still do not have that information. I do not believe that we will know anything more before spring or Easter.”

Residents voiced their concerns and anger at the meeting over the proposals, with some criticising Mr Merriman for not doing more to address their concerns.

Addressing Mr Merriman, Paul Morris, of Cooden, said: “This is our back yard and your lack of actions speaks volumes.”

In response, the MP said he was one person representing 100,000 people in his constituency. He added: “I took the decision that if this proposal is going to go through the best thing would be it being a detained, closed site, so it would have less impact on the people next to it.”

He also said that a detained site was ‘akin to a prison’ where people would not be allowed to leave.

Another resident said the issue was ‘dragging on and on’ and that many residents living near Northeye were ‘frightened’ and would not be able to sell their houses if the plans went ahead.

Cllr Christine Bayliss, who represents Bexhill Central Ward, and heads the Labour group on Rother District Council, said Bexhill was a welcoming place for refugees and said she ‘strongly opposed’ the proposals for Northeye.

“It’s in the wrong place and a waste of public money,” she said.

Simon Hester, chair of Hastings & District Trades Union Council and representing Stand Up To Racism, said the Government was ‘scapegoating refugees’ and creating a ‘scapegoating atmosphere’ with its policy surrounding asylum seekers and its proposals regarding Northeye.

Mr Merriman said the Government’s plan it had was to deter people coming over to the UK, who were being taken advantage of by people smugglers and risking their lives crossing the Channel.

He also said that the UK was not a country with ‘limitless resources’ and said the Government was spending £6m a day on hotel costs to house asylum seekers.

The Home Office first announced in March last year that it was seeking to bring forward proposals to open an accommodation centre on the site of the former prison.

Last summer, it confirmed if the plan were to go ahead, it would be used for ‘detained’ purposes only, meaning that asylum seekers residing there would not be free to come and go.

Northeye is one of several sites chosen by the Home Office for accommodation centres for asylum seekers to be built.

Since the plans for Northeye were first unveiled at the end of last March, several protests have been held in Bexhill, organised by the No to Northeye group.

Last September, a petition signed by more than 2,000 people opposing Government plans to turn Northeye into a centre for asylum seekers, was handed to Rother District Council by the No to Northeye group, calling on the authority to oppose the plans by the Home Office.