The Home Office has spent over £3.4 million on a project to house up to 931 asylum seekers at a former RAF base near Thetford, before a final decision has been made.
The contract, signed in October but published this week, was awarded to construction firm Kier. It covers what the department describes as "Refurbishment and Modular Solutions" at RAF Barnham, a former nuclear weapons store on the Norfolk-Suffolk border.
The Home Office insists no decision has yet been taken on the proposed camp.
Opposition and Planning Process
The plans have faced opposition from residents, with protests held outside the former military base. The government intends to use the Urgent Crown Development process, a fast-track planning route that bypasses the local council. However, no planning application for the site has been published yet.
The proposed camp is among three former military bases being considered to accommodate asylum seekers as ministers seek to move away from hotel-based accommodation.
Criticism from Local Officials
Scott Hussey, a Reform UK cabinet member at Norfolk County Council, criticised the spending and called on the Home Office to reveal the expected overall cost.
"The Home Office has already handed aptly-named Kier Construction £3.4million just for design work and this is before a single brick has been laid or portacabin installed," he said. "The real refurbishment bill is still to come and could come in at tens of millions of pounds."
He added: "Successive governments have never found enough money to give our own armed forces decent accommodation - including when this site was used by the RAF - yet for illegal immigrant accommodation the money flows freely. We deserve to know the full cost before any decision is made."
Helen Beck, chairwoman of the Barnham Residents Association, said locals were "hugely disappointed" by the decision to spend money drawing up plans before the site's suitability had been established.
She said: "The fact that the government is happy to spend £3.4m drawing up a scheme - that at the moment they don't even know whether it can legally go ahead - is hugely disappointing."
Wider Context
The first protest against the use of RAF Barnham to house asylum seekers took place in June 2026. They are understood to now be held every Sunday at 2pm.
The Government currently uses, or has designated, two former Royal Air Force bases - RAF Wethersfield in Essex and RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire - to house up to 800 single adult male asylum seekers each, with management by private contractors Clearsprings Ready Homes and Serco.
To further reduce reliance on hotels, the Home Office is also evaluating several other former military sites as part of a £150 million plan. These include RAF Barnham, RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire, MoD Bicester in Oxfordshire, Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex and Cameron Barracks in Inverness.
A Home Office spokesman said: "The government is working on a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation across the country, with over £1billion saved in costs since the election. This includes closing all asylum hotels and moving to alternative accommodation, including former military sites. These are designed to be self-contained, with 24/7 security and CCTV, to minimise the impact on the local community."
