Temporary Norfolk asylum seekers centre plans dropped

A government scheme has been dropped to turn Jaguar House - once part of RAF Coltishall - into an initial assessment centre for asylum seekers

Plans to house asylum seekers on part of a former military base have been dropped by the Home Office.

It had been proposed Jaguar House, once part of RAF Coltishall in Norfolk, was brought back into use for a year as an initial assessment centre.

The building had already been operating as such between April 2020 and February 2021.

Broadland Conservative MP Jerome Mayhew said: "The rural location and lack of facilities made it wholly unsuitable."

Mr Mayhew had been lobbying to stop the site being used again and said there had been some strong local opposition, reported the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Significant mistake'

He announced on Monday the Home Office had told him the plan for the village of Badersfield had been scrapped.

"Since I first heard the Home Office were considering using Jaguar House to house asylum seekers, I have said that this would be a very significant mistake," said Mr Mayhew.

"The government recognises that such centres are best placed in urban areas where there is access to community infrastructure.

"The Jaguar building is the opposite: located in a small village, with inadequate community infrastructure or public transport."

Up to 180 men could have been housed at the site, with Mr Mayhew saying it would have had an "disproportionate impact" on the largely elderly small resident community.

When the site previously opened as an asylum centre, some locals delivered gifts and essentials, but concerns were raised by others.

Within the first month of opening, five calls to the police and 30 complaints to the district council were made.

The Grade II-listed main Jaguar House was built in 1938 to house RAF officers until 2005.