Is an ex-airbase housing asylum seekers just a 'holiday camp'?

The leader of Essex County Council has branded a former airbase housing asylum seekers "holiday camp UK".

Reform UK's Peter Harris made the comment after touring MDP Wethersfield, near Braintree, this week.

It houses people living in limbo, but can it be likened to a holiday destination?

Nestled among picture-postcard villages, MDP Wethersfield finds itself at odds with the rural Essex life surrounding it.

The former airbase is now the place that about 800 migrants - all men aged between 18 and 65 - temporarily call home.

It was first repurposed as asylum accommodation under the Conservative government in 2023 and has continued to be used by the Labour administration as it battles to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

In June, it was announced the number of residents would soon rise to 1,245 and the site would remain open beyond 2027.

"What I saw there was something you would see in a holiday camp," Harris told BBC Essex presenter Ben Fryer.

He had first made the comparison in an opinion piece for the Daily Mail, published on Tuesday.

Harris said: "[There were] lovely grounds, trees, grass, full-size football pitch, large indoor gymnasium, fitness rooms, an internal sports hall.

"We saw the snack bars, pool tables, lots of TVs around, lots of areas where people could sit around. It was a very comfortable place to be at."

The Home Office does not deny what it provides to those living there. It says the site, with its laundry facilities, healthcare and sports areas, is designed to be self-sufficient.

What it does deny is a claim made by Harris that there are plans to build a swimming pool at Wethersfield.

There is a 24-hour security presence on-site and a shuttle bus running multiple times a day to Braintree, Colchester and Chelmsford - a subject of concern for some.

"We don't know who these gentlemen are, where they've come from, what their intentions are - and they are free to roam our towns," Harris said. "It is extremely worrying to me."

What did Harris want done with Wethersfield? Turn it into a so-called veterans' village for military veterans navigating civilian life, he suggested.

The council leader said he was going to write to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood urging her to close the site, or, at least, detain those living there and stop the minibuses.

The migrants are not detained but are instead asked to follow a voluntary 22:00 curfew.

Some might ask why people who arrive illegally in the UK are not held in detention.

The answer lies in the law, which dictates that someone with a pending asylum case cannot be sent back to their home country, because the basis of their claim is they are fleeing persecution or harm.

Due to their legitimate right to indefinitely remain, they cannot be detained.

Jacqui Braithwaite, landlady of the nearby Finchingfield Lion, said of Wethersfield: "I certainly don't see it as a holiday camp.

"It doesn't make any difference to the people around here, other than the racism it's brought out of people."

She said the village - adorned with tea rooms and a duck pond surrounded by Georgian homes - had been weaponised by the far-right.

"We have had some really unpleasant, far-right people come to the village and be really unpleasant. Really nasty, horrible people," Braithwaite added.

"I am far more scared of the far-right coming here to protest than from any of the asylum seekers."

She dismissed the suggestion that the 1,400-resident village had been overrun by migrants.

"They mostly don't look at us because, mostly, they're terrified of everybody, but if you do catch their eye they smile, they're respectful," the landlady continued.

"We're so lucky to be here and the migrants a mile-and-a-half away make absolutely no difference to our lives."

Wethersfield, which opened as an RAF base during World War Two, was due to shut in 2027 before its provision was extended.

The government has pledged to end the use of hotels as asylum seeker accommodation by 2029, and is using ex-military sites instead.

Since July 2024, the number of hotels has dropped from 213 to below 160.

While the Home Office has acknowledged there is a fear of crime among some concerned about men being brought into communities, it says there is "no evidence" they disproportionately affect levels of crime or anti-social behaviour.

Everyone brought into Wethersfield is screened against policing, security and immigration databases.

A factsheet on the government website added asylum seekers were not provided with clothing or mobile phones. Instead, some charities were supplying such items.

Nick Beales, of the charity Refugee and Migrant Justice, said allowing them to work would alleviate pressure on the taxpayer.

"What [the government] should do is permit people seeking asylum the right to work whilst their claims are processed," he said.

"They can [then] support themselves, they can move into the private renting centre.

"Then you will have far less people needing to rely on government-provided accommodation whilst they wait lengthy periods for their asylum claims to be processed."

A Home Office spokesperson said Wethersfield was designed to be self-sufficient and thus minimise the impact on communities and services.

"All sports facilities have been repurposed from existing buildings already present on site," they add.

"We are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites.

"The number receiving support is now falling, with asylum costs down by £1bn since the general election."

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