Asylum seekers to be housed at Essex RAF base from Wednesday

Asylum seekers will start to be housed at a former RAF base in Essex from Wednesday morning, Sky News understands.

Ministers unveiled plans again in March to make use of Wethersfield Airfield to accommodate as much as 1,700 male asylum seekers for as much as 180 days every in an try to cut back the quantity the federal government spends on lodges.

The scheme led to a backlash from the native authority and a few residents, with Braintree Council launching a authorized problem towards the transfer.

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But makes an attempt to dam the plans failed, and Sky News now understands the primary arrivals will probably be on web site tomorrow morning.

The information additionally comes after Sky News revealed round 18 Army households had been given only a week’s discover to maneuver off the positioning, saying they’d been “railroaded” into vacating the bottom.

An announcement from the council on Monday mentioned they’d “yet to receive confirmation on an exact date from the Home Office” on when asylum seekers would arrive, and had been nonetheless looking for to take additional authorized motion – with a choice anticipated this week.

They added: “We still feel there are many that still need addressing and clarifying, in particular in relation to community engagement and funding.

“We are nonetheless very a lot of the view that the airbase will not be an appropriate web site.”

The authorities has been making an attempt to give you various lodging for asylum seekers after it mentioned the variety of folks making small boat Channel crossings had led to a resort invoice of £6m to accommodate these ready for his or her claims to be processed.

As nicely as former navy bases, there are plans to accommodate folks on barges in addition to stories that enormous marquees might be used.

Ministers are additionally pushing ahead with their Illegal Migration Bill – which handed its newest stage within the Commons on Tuesday after virtually 4 hours of voting – that will see these arriving by small boats “swiftly detained and removed” to their nation of origin or a 3rd nation – like Rwanda.

However, whereas Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted his plan is “working”, greater than 1,000 folks made the harmful journey over the weekend.

Figures launched by the Home Office confirmed 686 migrants had been discovered crossing the Channel on 13 boats on Friday – the best quantity in a single day to date this yr – and 384 migrants made the crossing on Saturday.

An extra 269 folks had been detected on Sunday, taking the full variety of folks crossing to date this yr to greater than 12,000.

Despite the figures, the PM informed reporters on Tuesday: “When people know if they come they won’t be able to stay… they stop coming in the same volumes. That gives me confidence that our overall strategy is the right one.”