Protests outside Wethersfield airbase amid news asylum seekers could move in next week

  • Video report by ITV News Anglia's Hannah Pettifer

More than 100 people have taken part in a protest outside an airbase over plans to turn the site into an asylum centre.

Under Home Office plans up to 1,700 male asylum seekers, who are currently staying in hotels, could be transferred to Wethersfield Airfield, a former military base in Essex as soon as next week.

Under emergency powers, it can do so for up to 180 days.

Those living nearby say doing so would triple the population of the rural village. David Price has lived in Wethersfield for 20 years.

He says the location of the site, nine miles to the nearest A road, surrounded by villages with few amenities, is the wrong choice.

Ministers want to accommodate up to 1,700 people at the old Essex airbase. Credit: PA

"They've not been listening to us, you've only got to think about last week when some portacabins were stopped very easily because of the poor quality of the roads" he told ITV News Anglia.

"There's no pavements connecting the villages, this is not a safe place, this is rural, isolated Essex, it's the wrong place to put that number of people."

The government wants to use the former RAF base to house asylum seekers temporarily so to reduce the number staying in hotels, at a cost of £6 million a day.

It says it is working closely with local stakeholders to address their concerns and minimise any impacts on the area.

Some of those living nearby disagree, saying the plans are ill-conceived.

"Forget emotion, if you just look at the logic of this, if you've got various reports including one from the MOD saying there's potential contamination over there, this might be the perfect place for asylum seekers but investigate that, make sure it's safe" said resident Tony Clarke-Holland.

"Now if that's not being looked at sensibly and properly then we can only conclude that it's being rushed through and with an election coming up in 12 months time, call me cynical but it does seem to be that it's a quick win."

Just two weeks ago Braintree district council lost its appeal against the plans.

It's now waiting to hear the outcome of a judicial review hearing which, if granted, would again challenge the Home Office's decision to use the site.

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