Home Office signs £3.4m Kier contract for ex-RAF Barnham asylum site before approval

Right · 2The Home Office signed a contract worth £3,400,411.27 with construction firm Kier in October for what it calls 'Refurbishment and Modular Solutions' at the former RAF Barnham base, on the Suffolk-Norfolk border near Thetford, it has emerged. 1 2 Right · 2The site is proposed to house about 930 asylum seekers (931 in the Express), and the contract began on 19 October and runs until 25 January 2027, according to the Daily Mail. 1 2 Right · 2The Express describes the contract as hiring Kier to draw up detailed plans, and says the Home Office insists no decision has yet been taken; the Mail says approval has not been granted. 2 1

Right · 2The Home Office intends to use Urgent Crown Development, a fast-track planning route that bypasses the local council, but no planning application has been formally lodged for the site. 1 2 Right · 1RAF Barnham was earmarked in June as part of proposals for 3,750 migrants across three sites; the Mail says the Home Office intends to use the 179-hectare site for at least ten years, and that a decision is expected this autumn. 1 Right · 1Cllr John Bauer, chairman of Barnham Parish Council, criticised the spending without a guarantee the scheme will proceed and cited a 'complete lack of transparency from the Home Office'. 1

Right · 1Scott Hussey, a Reform UK cabinet member at Norfolk County Council, said the £3.4m was 'just for design work', that the real refurbishment bill 'could come in at tens of millions of pounds', and called for the full cost to be disclosed. 2 Right · 1Helen Beck, chairwoman of the Barnham Residents Association, said locals were 'hugely disappointed' that money was being spent on a scheme that may not be legally able to go ahead. 2 Right · 2Residents have held protests since June, now reportedly every Sunday at 2pm; the Mail says they are planning a 'Piddington-style' referendum and that an encampment with rotating protesters has been set up outside the gates. Barnham has fewer than 600 people and no shop or pub. 2 1

Right · 1The Mail links the proposals to riots in nearby Thetford in August, when properties believed to house migrants were targeted over three nights; it reports five men were removed from homes and a police officer was bitten. 1 Right · 1A Home Office spokesman said the government is working on a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation, claimed over £1billion saved in costs since the election, and said military sites are designed to be self-contained with 24/7 security and CCTV to minimise the impact on local communities. 2 Right · 1The Express says Barnham is one of several former military sites under evaluation as part of a £150million plan to reduce reliance on hotels, alongside RAF Wethersfield and RAF Scampton, which already house or are designated to house up to 800 single adult men each. 2