Asylum plan for another Pontins site scrapped

The Home Office has backed away from using the Pontins site in East Sussex

The government has backed away from plans to use another Pontins holiday park to house asylum seekers.

Local authorities in East Sussex said the Home Office was not taking forward the idea of converting the resort in Camber Sands into asylum accommodation.

Earlier this month, Sefton Council said ministers were no longer pursuing a similar proposal for a Pontins site in Ainsdale, Merseyside.

The Home Office said it would not comment on any individual site.

Ministers are searching for large sites instead of costly hotels to house asylum seekers waiting for their claims to be assessed.

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Rother District Council - which owns the freehold for the site - and East Sussex County Council were approached by the Home Office in December about Pontins Camber Sands.

The authorities raised a number of concerns, including the remote location of the park and pressure on local services.

The councils said they had received a letter from the Home Office on Friday confirming the government was not proceeding with the plan.

Doug Oliver, leader of Rother District Council, said he welcomed the "sensible" decision.

"Camber is not a large community… this would not have been the right arrangement either for migrants or for residents," he added.

Search for sites

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has been trying to find larger sites to house asylum seekers, with the bill for hotels costing £6.8m a day.

He has singled out holiday parks, former student halls of residence and surplus military sites as possible alternatives - but none has yet been given the go-ahead.

A plan to turn a former RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire into an asylum centre was scrapped last summer in the face of local opposition.

Home Office officials have privately acknowledged they will face local obstacles to opening any new large-scale asylum accommodation, but insist they are confident suitable sites will be opened soon.

A government spokesperson said it was looking to "all available options to source appropriate and cost-effective temporary accommodation".