Asylum seekers could be housed in underperforming Pontins holiday parks, budget cruise ships and student halls of residence. The idea has been floated as part of a 10-point plan to tackle the migrant crisis, The Telegraph reports.
Pontins has sites at Prestatyn in North Wales, Brean Sands and Sand Bay in Somerset, Southport on Merseyside, Pakefield in East Suffolk and Camber Sands in East Sussex.
Ministers have labelled the current system - where the taxpayer funds accommodation for migrants to the tune of £5.6 million per day - 'Hotel Britain' and say it must end. The Home Office is tasked with processing a backlog of around 90,000 applications while officials start work emptying the overcrowded RAF Manston holding facility.
The news comes as Official figures due to be released by the Ministry of Defence today (Sunday) are set to show over 40,000 migrants have crossed the English channel into the UK so far in 2022. The provisional total of arrivals had been 39,913 ahead of the weekend, with further crossings yesterday (Saturday) likely to set a new milestone. For comparison, there were 28,561 crossings recorded in 2021. Whereas in 2022, 22 August saw the highest daily total on record, with 1,295 people crossing in 27 boats.
Some of the suggestions mooted to alleviate the crisis include homing migrants in popular holiday camps like Pontin’s, Park Holidays, Warner Holidays and Butlin’s. Disused student accommodation and cruise ships have also been suggested, with a senior Home Office official ruling nothing out at this stage, according to the Express.
The source said: "The scale of the problem is huge - as things stand, the number of migrants and asylum seekers has outstripped our capacity, and the reality is that we have just weeks to solve this current backlog crisis. We need to examine other options, and the use of off-season holiday camps is an attractive idea.
"They are enclosed, meaning that we can provide medical and educational services whilst ensuring asylum seekers remain contained, and they would buy us breathing space, while potentially offering another stream of revenue to facilities which are not used over the winter months.”
Writing for The Telegraph, immigration minister Robert Jenrick added that the current use of 'unsuitable' hotels as a means of accommodation could even be fuelling 'asylum shopping' economic migrants, who see Britain as a 'destination of choice'. He wrote: “‘Hotel Britain’ must end, and be replaced with simple, functional accommodation that does not create an additional pull factor."
It's understood the minister demanded to meet with bosses of private accommodation contractors this week and read them the riot act over the commissioning of 'unacceptable' hotels as accommodation, some of which include stately homes that charge up to £200 per night.
The Mirror reports that a cross-government party is to be established to oversee the effective running of accommodation and to speed up the transfer of migrants out of it. It is believed the Home Office currently funds around 200 hotels, which are being block booked without any prior notice required in tourist towns. These are thought to house as many as 37,000 migrants, which has led to eight councils considering or having taken legal action against such use.
Border Force Officials could be seen bringing groups of people into shore at Dover and Kent on Saturday, in the first group of arrivals since 31 October following a spell of bad weather.
The new immigration figures come more than six months since the former Home Secretary Priti Patel announced plans to send migrants deemed to have illegally entered the country to Rwanda in an effort to deter more from crossing the channel. The first deportation flight, due to take off on June 14, was grounded amid legal challenges.
The legality of the policy has since been contested in the courts, with ministers and campaigners awaiting a ruling from High Court judges on the case. This week, two councils lost bids for High Court injunctions to prevent hotels from housing asylum seekers.
The number of people reaching the UK in small boats from France after navigating busy shipping lanes has increased significantly in recent years. Some 299 were detected in 2018, followed by 1,843 in 2019 and 8,466 in 2020, official figures show. Despite growing numbers, the small boat arrivals are a fraction of the number of people going to mainland Europe.
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