The Home Office is refusing to shut a controversial camp for asylum-seekers set up within a former military barracks despite closing a sister site in Wales after months of pressure over appalling living conditions.
Napier Barracks near Folkestone in Kent will “remain in operation in accordance with current needs”, the department said, after announcing Penally camp in Pembrokeshire would be handed back to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Sunday.
Humanitarian charities and opposition politicians welcomed the closure of Penally but said the Home Office must follow by shutting down Napier.
Both sites have housed hundreds of asylum seekers since being handed over to the Home Office in September and have been dogged by allegations of cover-ups, poor access to healthcare and legal advice, and crowded conditions.
Napier was witness to a significant Covid-19 outbreak in January, which saw at least 197 confirmed cases, equal to more than half of its resident population at its peak of 380.
The high court previously heard that the Home Office ignored Public Health England advice that the dormitory-style accommodation at Napier barracks, which holds up to 28 men in a single block, was not suitable during the pandemic.
And last week, HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the independent chief inspector of Borders and Immigration published a damning report following inspections of Penally and Napier, branding both sites “filthy” and “impoverished”.
Naomi Phillips, director of policy and advocacy at the British Red Cross, said: “We have consistently raised serious concerns with the Home Office that Penally, and other barracks sites, are completely inappropriate and inhumane as housing for people fleeing war, persecution and violence.
“Penally is not the only barracks accommodation currently being used as accommodation for people seeking asylum in the UK. We want to see the urgent closure of these sites, and a long-term solution that allows people to live in safe, suitable and secure accommodation.”
Clare Moseley, founder of Care4Calais, a charity that has provided direct support to residents of Napier and Penally, said: “It’s incredibly disappointing to hear that Napier barracks will remain open. Care4Calais’s work on the frontline has shown us time and again that the conditions are appalling, and the recent inspectors report made it clear that the site is not safe. How on earth can the government consider housing more vulnerable people where depression and thoughts of suicide are experienced by so many?”
Kolbassia Haoussou, director of survivor empowerment at Freedom from Torture, said: “We welcome the government’s decision to close the army barracks in Penally which are currently housing vulnerable people seeking asylum. They must also now close Napier barracks, which remain open despite repeated warnings of the life-threatening conditions inside.”
The SNP’s shadow home affairs secretary, Stuart McDonald, who sits on the home affairs select committee, said: “This is a welcome development but it does not go far enough. Napier barracks must also close immediately and the home secretary must come before parliament to respond to the damning inspection report and rule out using military barracks in future plans for UK asylum accommodation.”
Simon Hart, the Conservative MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire and the secretary of state for Wales, has written to residents to confirm that the Home Office had agreed to return the Penally camp to the MoD on 21 March.
The letter, seen by the Guardian, said: “I am deeply conscious that the manner in which the use of Penally came about caused much frustration and anger. The Home Office recognises this contributed to heightened tensions but stress they had little option at the time.”
Around 50 asylum seekers were being accommodated at Penally when the closure was announced, down from peak of 250. Several legal challenges against the Welsh barracks were under way but will not go forward now that the closure has been confirmed.
A 48-year-old asylum-seeker from Iran held in Penally barracks said: “I have been here for too many months and have become crazy here. I thought I would die here. We are happy but we don’t know what will happen to us next. This place is a prison not a camp and the Home Office passes us around like a football.”
A 27-year-old asylum seeker, also from Iran, who was one of two bringing judicial review proceedings against the Home Office for alleged breach of planning rules at the barracks, said the men have been told they will be moved to new accommodation in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport.
“More important to us than the kind of accommodation we will be taken to is to get our cases processed by the Home Office. I don’t know why the Home Office has decided to close the barracks now. Maybe bringing the legal challenge about the planning has helped.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Penally has provided safe and secure accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute. The site has been good value for money and we are grateful to MoD for temporary use of this site.
“This provided emergency capacity in response to pressures put on the asylum estate during Covid. As those pressures have eased we have decided not to extend emergency planning permission beyond six months. Napier will remain in operation in accordance with current needs.”
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru’s leader in the Commons, said: “The institutional failures of the Home Office over Penally camp are a scandal that must not be brushed under the carpet.”
She added: “We now need binding guarantees that a situation like this can never happen again. We need an asylum system that puts the welfare of those seeking asylum first, and for communities to be at the heart of decision-making.”