East Sussex site chosen to house asylum seekers - here's all we know so far

The site that has been chosen is a former prison complex in Bexhill called Northeye.

The prison was in operation from 1969 to 1992.

It was formerly the site of a Royal Air Force Mobile Radio Unit which housed reserve equipment for the Chain Home radar station at Pevensey.

It then became a radar station itself, but was decommissioned in 1964. It was subsequently opened as a Category C training prison in January 1969.

It was one of the prisons which took part in the prison strike organised by Preservation of the Rights of Prisoners in 1972.

More recently, the site was the home of the United Arab Emirates technical training project, which closed in 2019.

The project was based on the site of the former Northeye prison at the end of Wartling Drive since 1993.

Robert Jenrick, the Immigration Minister, announced the news today (Wednesday, March 29) in the Commons that three sites are to be repurposed to accommodate migrants and cut down on the use of hotels for asylum seekers.

As reported by the BBC, the minister said ex-military bases in Lincolnshire and Essex, plus the Northeye site in Bexhill, could house ‘several thousand’ asylum seekers.

Mr Jenrick also said the Government is ‘exploring the possibility’ of using disused ferries but no firm decision has been taken as yet.

East Sussex County Council and Rother District Council have issued a joint statement following today’s news about the Northeye site.