Home Office Spends £3.4 Million Designing RAF Barnham Asylum Camp

The Home Office awarded a £3.4 million contract to construction firm Kier to create detailed designs for a proposed asylum seeker camp at RAF Barnham. The site, a former nuclear weapons storage facility on the Norfolk-Suffolk border near Thetford, is intended to house 931 asylum seekers, a decrease from an initial plan for 1,250 people.

The contract, signed in October and running through January 2027, covers refurbishment and modular solutions but does not include actual construction. The government intends to use the Urgent Crown Development fast-track planning route to bypass the local council, though no formal application has been published. A Home Office spokesperson stated the project is part of a broader strategy to close asylum hotels and utilize former military sites to ensure a fairer distribution of accommodation.

Local officials and residents have condemned the expenditure as wasteful since a final decision on the site's viability has not been reached. Norfolk County Council cabinet member Scott Hussey argued that the total refurbishment bill could reach tens of millions of pounds and criticized the allocation of funds for migrant housing over military accommodation. Helen Beck, chairwoman of the Barnham Residents Association, expressed disappointment that public funds are being spent on a scheme that may not legally proceed.