Home Office Plans to House 3,750 More Asylum Seekers at Three Former Military Sites

The Home Office is attempting to use three Ministry of Defence sites in Bicester, Oxfordshire, Barnham, Suffolk, and Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire, to house about 3,750 asylum seekers, BBC News reported. Planning permission is required before the sites can be used.

The government also seeks to extend the use of Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex until 2030 and the Wethersfield site in Essex beyond 2027.

RAF Wethersfield and Crowborough Training Camp are already housing asylum seekers. As of March 2026, 20,885 asylum seekers, or 21 percent, were accommodated in hotels while 72,768, or 75 percent, were in other forms of accommodation. The number in hotels has fallen from a peak of 56,000 in September 2023.

On 25 June 2026 the Home Office announced the closure of 20 further asylum hotels, reducing the total in use to 170. The closed sites include Dayz Away Lodge in Dudley, Holiday Inn Ashford Central in Kent, and Best Western Wembley in London. Spending on asylum hotels reached £2.1 billion in 2024-2025, down from £3 billion the previous year.

The Immigration and Asylum Bill, which aims to increase forced removals of people refused asylum, is scheduled for introduction in the House of Commons on 30 June 2026. Border security and asylum minister Alex Norris said the government is moving asylum seekers into ex-military sites that are a far cry from the hotels the last government left.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Labour should be putting illegal immigrants on a plane home rather than using military camps and hotels.

A plan to house up to 300 male asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in Inverness was dropped this week after protests. In 2025, 41,472 people arrived in the UK via small boats across the English Channel.