Napier barracks in Kent, one of the first mass accommodation sites for asylum seekers, is set to close by September 2025, according to a Home Office document submitted to Parliament's cross-party home affairs committee. The site will be handed back to the Ministry of Defence after years of controversy over poor conditions, including a mass Covid outbreak, decrepit facilities, and far-right protests.
The barracks, which houses up to 328 male asylum seekers in dormitories, was opened during the pandemic due to pressures on the Home Office to provide suitable accommodation. A High Court ruling in 2021 found that the site did not meet 'minimum standards'. Initially, asylum seekers were housed there indefinitely, but a subsequent 90-day limit was introduced, which residents said made their stay more bearable.
Emily Soothill of Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors, who has represented asylum seekers challenging conditions at Napier, welcomed the closure announcement. She noted that it has been almost four years since the High Court found the Home Secretary had acted unlawfully in accommodating clients at the barracks, yet it continued to be used. She stressed that asylum seekers, especially victims of torture and trafficking, should not be accommodated en masse in military barracks.
Sally Hough, director of the Napier Drop-In Centre, which supports asylum seekers at the site, described housing vulnerable people in dilapidated former military accommodation as 'wrong and a stain on our record of being a nation of sanctuary'. She noted that the camp inadvertently galvanised local community support for residents and fostered integration.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain and is committed to ending the use of hotels. The extension of Napier Barracks until September 2025 is part of this plan. Other mass accommodation sites, such as the Bibby Stockholm barge, have already closed, while Wethersfield in Essex continues to operate without a confirmed end date.
