Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Wealden District Council has been consulted under section 293C of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in relation to a section 293B application for the use of Crowborough Training Camp for asylum seeker accommodation.

Discussions are underway to use the Crowborough site for asylum accommodation. Consideration of this site is ongoing and any final decision to utilise any site for the intended purposes will be made once the relevant factors have been properly considered.

As potential sites are identified and progressed for alternative asylum accommodation, a Stage Gate process, which builds on the lessons learned from the delivery of previous sites, is followed to ensure that any decisions made are informed by a comprehensive range of information. This includes, but isn’t limited to, site surveys and environmental audits.

The Home Office continues to engage regularly with representatives from the local authority, the NHS, the Police, and local partners, including via Multi Agency Forums pre-delivery and post-Go Live of the proposed site to address the concerns of those most impacted and to identify ways to keep them informed.

We will ensure that any development is safe, appropriate and compliant with the relevant planning regulations and processes where required.