Peter Harris, the Reform UK leader of Essex County Council, has described being given rare access inside the Wethersfield Airfield Asylum Accommodation site, a former RAF base in the Essex countryside currently housing 800 male asylum seekers.
Harris toured the site last week with the council's deputy leader, Russell Quirk, after three years of concern about its impact on the surrounding area. He said the Home Office allowed the visit, but he and Quirk were not permitted to take photographs and did not speak with any residents beyond a passing greeting.
They arrived at 9.30am and were met by a site manager employed by Clearwater, the firm that administers Wethersfield on behalf of the Home Office, and were inside by 10am.
Free facilities on site
Harris described a fully equipped gymnasium, a fitness room, a full-sized football pitch and an indoor sports hall fitted out for five-a-side football, basketball and cricket, all free to residents. There are also recreation rooms with televisions and pool tables, and a snack bar.
Mobile phones are provided to residents along with generous allowances for free calls, he said. A main restaurant serving two dining halls offers three meals a day with a range of choices, including vegetarian options, though all meat served is halal.
Prayer rooms are officially designated as multi-faith spaces, but Harris said most of the religious material inside was Islamic, with numerous Korans and no Bibles, and prayer mats covering almost all the available floor.
Minibuses into nearby towns
A fleet of 17 free minibuses runs three times a day, seven days a week, including Christmas Day, taking residents into the nearby towns of Braintree, Chelmsford and Colchester. Harris said up to 300 men travel into each town on a given day, and the last of the minibuses was leaving as he and Quirk arrived for their tour.
Residents also receive an allowance of £9.95 per person a week for incidental costs, loaded onto a prepaid debit card, according to Harris.
Cost to taxpayers
Wethersfield's official name is Wethersfield Airfield Asylum Accommodation. A National Audit Office report last year estimated that asylum accommodation contracts will cost the taxpayer £15.3 billion over the next ten years.
So-called dispersal sites, mostly former military properties like Wethersfield, are regarded as cheaper than the short-term alternative of housing asylum seekers in hotels. Harris said the most frequent complaint left in the site's suggestion boxes was not for educational resources or news of relatives, but the lack of a swimming pool.
Numbers and day trips
There are currently 800 male asylum seekers at Wethersfield, a figure the Home Office expects to rise to 1,245, with potential surge capacity of 1,700. The Home Office says 445 contingency bed spaces can be brought into use to manage short-term pressures across the wider asylum accommodation estate.
During the three-hour tour, Harris said he counted fewer than 150 residents on site, with most either in their rooms or on day trips into town. He said Essex residents have told him they try to finish shopping in Colchester, Chelmsford or Braintree before around 10am, when men from Wethersfield typically arrive.
Of the residents he did see, Harris said most were on their phones, while the gym was full, mostly with men training with weights. He was told one resident was a mixed martial arts athlete and Ultimate Fighting Championship contender skilled in kickboxing, wrestling and jiu-jitsu.
Policing and screening
A single security guard accompanied the pair during the visit. A police officer cycled up and introduced himself as the designated officer for Wethersfield, saying he spends roughly three to four hours a day at the site, Monday to Friday, and the rest of his time covering the surrounding village. Harris was also told a separate officer based at Braintree Police Station deals with crimes linked to the site.
Migrants generally first pass through Manston Asylum Processing Centre in Kent, another former military airfield, where they are vetted and undergo biometric testing including fingerprinting, though not DNA sampling. Harris said he was told DNA collection might contravene human rights. Residents are men aged 18 to 40, and Harris said some can arrive at Wethersfield under new names if they chose not to give their real ones at Manston.
Induction course and welfare
Harris described a two-day induction course, not mandatory but attended by most new arrivals, which explains how people are expected to behave in Britain, including how to treat women and children, with interpreters translating into several languages. He said residents are told to respect women, not to stare at them in the street and not to sexually assault them. Older residents described as "elders" are available to speak to younger men who behave inappropriately, he said.
Health concerns
The site has an onsite NHS medical facility with doctors and nurses. Harris said he was told some residents have active tuberculosis, with up to 20 per cent diagnosed with latent TB, and that some arrive with scabies, which staff treat seriously given the risk of spread in communal accommodation. About 10 per cent of residents are receiving treatment or support for mental health problems, according to Harris.
Asylum processing and next steps
Applicants can undergo two-hour Home Office interviews with interpreters in soundproof pods on site. Harris said the average stay at Wethersfield is 80 days, not long enough for asylum claims to be fully processed, so residents are typically moved into houses of multiple occupancy elsewhere before a final decision, travelling there by Uber hire cars, with the Home Office decision following by post.
About half of claimants are granted asylum, gaining access to benefits and priority social housing, Harris said. Of those refused, a few accept voluntary return, though he said it remains unclear what happens to unsuccessful applicants who do not leave.
Call for a veterans village
Harris noted that Essex County Council is currently searching for a site for a new Veterans Village to house and support British military veterans after their service ends. He argued that Wethersfield, with its existing accommodation, medical centre, sports facilities, kitchens and dining halls, could be repurposed for that use instead.
Peter Harris is the Reform UK leader of Essex County Council.
