The MP for Sussex Weald has announced a ‘great positive result’ after she asked the Home Affairs Select Committee to open a formal inquiry into the acquisition of Crowborough Training Camp.
Conservative Nusrat Ghani said on Thursday, March 26, that she has heard back from Dame Karen Bradley MP, Chair of the Home Affairs Committee.
Ms Ghani posted the letter to her Facebook page, saying: “We just want accurate and consistent answers to what has happened in Crowborough, how long we can expect the Home Office to use the site, and what resources we can secure to help Crowborough and surrounding areas.”
The Home Office confirmed in January this year that it had started to move asylum seekers into the former military site Crowborough training camp as part of a plan to ‘end the use of expensive hotels’. The Home Office said the site accommodates single adult males claiming asylum in the UK, adding that the number of asylum seekers is set to rise to more than 500.
In a letter dated Wednesday, March 25, Dame Karen said: “In light of the Government’s renewed focus on large sites to accommodate asylum seekers, I have written to the relevant local authorities and accommodation providers to request further information about the use of new large sites in East Sussex and Inverness as asylum accommodation.
“Once the Committee has received responses to these letters, we will decide what further scrutiny to undertake on this issue.”
Ms Ghani called this level of scrutiny ‘appropriate’, saying: “It is a great positive result to have the heavyweight Home Affairs Select Committee engaged in what has transpired in Crowborough.”
The Home Office first announced in October 2025 that the Crowborough Army Camp site was set to house asylum seekers. Since then, the proposal has received heavy criticism from residents and politicians in the area.
The original article is available here.
