15 February 2002
There have been protests in the eight remote areas under consideration, mainly on disused RAF bases, that the sites are not suitable for the new 'asylum villages'.
They are integral to the government's plans for producing a 'seamless asylum process', as unveiled by the home secretary in the white paper Secure borders, safe haven: integration with diversity in modern Britain on February 7. It is hoped the new system will double the number of appeals heard every month.
John Ransford, director of social policy at the LGA, told Public Finance: 'The white paper takes us forward and responds to a lot of concerns we've been raising in recent years. There is the potential here for a properly controlled and properly managed system.
'We need a lot more detail, but [the proposed centres] are not primarily about integration but induction.
'These centres are intended to provide people with a proper induction and education and then move them on. There will be benefits to the local economies and they will be a step forward as long as they're properly run and people don't stay in them forever.'
The centres are modelled on European accommodation centres with shops, sporting facilities and on-site catering.
One of the potential sites is a disused airfield at Throckmorton, near a burial site containing 100,000 carcasses slaughtered during the foot-and-mouth crisis.
Peter Luff, Conservative MP for Mid-Worcestershire, said: 'I have a deep philosophical objection to siting these centres in rural locations. I have initially raised a number of problems with the minister: for example, the complete lack of local transport infrastructure; the fact that this part of Worcestershire is being used yet again to solve a government problem; and the possible impact on local property prices.'
Anthony Ernest, a Conservative councillor at Vale of Glamorgan Council, has attacked plans to build a site at a remote former psychiatric hospital in Sully near Cardiff.
'People here have reacted with horror and shock. Having 750 people next door of a different culture could cause huge problems in a place like Sully, where there is a very low ethnic population,' he said. 'It is not a question of "Not in my backyard". It is a question of the suitability of the site.'
PFfeb2002
