Boris Johnson’s government will continue to hold migrants at a former army barracks in Kent in defiance of a court ruling which deemed the facility “unsafe” and “squalid”.
The Home Office has decided to carry on using the Napier Barracks for asylum seekers despite a High Court judge deciding that the facility failed to meet the “minimum standard” for accommodation, it has emerged.
Campaigners had hoped the government would only use the site on a temporary basis during the pandemic – after the Home Office agreed with the Ministry of Defence it would be used until September 2021.
But groups working with migrants at the Napier Barracks facility told The Independent that they have been informed that the facility will be used as migrant accommodation beyond September.
Ministers are set to agree a deal which would see the former army barracks used to house migrants for another four years, until at 2025, according to The Sun.
A Whitehall source told the newspaper: “We don’t want people staying in hotels when we’ve got perfectly good military barracks to house arrivals. They were good enough for our brave boys, and they’re good enough for them.”
Campaign groups reacted with alarm at the prospect of migrants being held at the facility for years to come after June’s High Court ruling.
Justice Linden ruled in the men’s favour, finding that the accommodation failed to meet a “minimum standard” and that the Home Office acted unlawfully when deciding that the former military camp was appropriate.
Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, told The Independent: “The Home Office’s plans to continue to use Napier Barracks are outrageous. It is completely inappropriate to accommodate those fleeing persecution in this way – the barracks have been described as unsafe by both the NHS and the courts, and have already seen large Covid outbreaks.”
Satbir Singh, Joint Council Welfare of Immigrants, added: “In the face of recent events, it’s particularly odious that government will house vulnerable people – likely many Afghan refugees – at Napier for another four years.”
He added: “This is a camp that the High Court deemed overcrowded, unsafe and ‘unfit for human habitation’ earlier this year. No-one should be housed there right now, let alone in four years’ time.”
“Those seeking asylum should be supported in appropriate housing in the community, not held in crowded rooms in what amounts to quasi-detention. The Home Office needs to rethink its approach to asylum as a matter of urgency.”
There are around 230 people living in the barracks, and campaigners have expressed concerns that vulnerable residents are subjected to conditions that execrate mental health problems and are not given adequate access to legal advice.
Home secretary Priti Patel has faced calls to resign by opposition MPs for “misleading parliament” after she claimed her department had followed public health advice when housing asylum seekers at Napier Barracks.
In June letters to the home affairs select committee from Public Health England (PHE) revealed they had previously advised the Home Office against dormitory-style accommodation at the site.
The Home Office said “significant improvements” have been made to Napier Barracks since the June court ruling – but have not said how much has been spent on changes to accommodation.
Maddie Harris, founder of the Humans for Rights Network – whose group has been in regular contact with migrants inside Napier Barracks – denied the idea that any positive changes had been made.
“They government is not making significant improvements to the dormitories,” she said. “It’s a woefully inadequate place to be accommodated – the place needs to be closed immediately. Migrants should be given safe, secure, self-contained accommodation.”
The Independent has contacted the Home Office for comment.
