Women living near the UK's largest asylum camp are "terrified" as Braintree District Council spent just £40,000 of the £3.8 million it received in Home Office grants on additional police officers. Residents have expressed concerns about intimidation, theft, violence and harassment at the hands of asylum seekers.
The site, MDP Wethersfield, was repurposed from RAF Wethersfield in July 2023 to house asylum seekers. It has an operational capacity of around 1,220 to 1,245 single male asylum seekers aged 18–65.
Grant spending under scrutiny
The Home Office gave the council £3.8 million between July 2023 and June 2026. Of that total, just £40,000 was spent on increased policing while £2.7 million remains unspent. Despite requests for additional police patrols in the town centre, data shows the local authority has only spent a fraction of its funds to deal with the site's impact.
Police data shows that 232 calls were made to 999 and 101 at the site since 2020, with the vast majority (192) coming since the asylum seekers moved in. The total calls included 31 for assault, three for rape, two for sexual offences, nine for theft, one for stabbing and two for human trafficking and slavery.
Residents and officials speak out
Robert Bates, of the Centre for Migration Control, said: "The people of Braintree are suffering greatly as a result of RAF Wethersfield and the heavy handed, contemptuous approach of Whitehall officials towards their concerns."
He added: "It is baffling that these funds are sitting underused gathering dust as crime runs rampant and residents spend their daily lives fraught with concern. If the government insists that the Wethersfield site must be used then it should be a detained facility, preventing illegal migrants from roaming around the local community."
Conservative MP for Braintree, Sir James Cleverly, said: "The Home Office must provide clarity on what the Council is able to spend its grant on and allow it to prioritise the protection of the local community."
Council defends spending restrictions
However, the council said: "We are the only local authority that receives this type of grant and comes with considerable restrictions on what it can be spent on; the funding instructions are kept confidential and the Home Office must approve all non-statutory funding."
"We can't use it to close our budget gap and, to our immense frustration, we've never been told what projects would be acceptable. It took more than a year of trial-and-error applications to unlock community funds at a fraction of what we had intended to allocate."
In the town, Susan Doan, the co-owner of a beauty salon, said her colleagues and clients were scared to leave late at night due to men loitering outside. She told the Mail: "They hang around outside the shop blowing kisses at the staff here."
"During the dark nights you would not want to leave here on your own. I had a client who left here and was followed by a group. She was terrified and so came straight back. What's been done to safeguard the women and children and make sure people feel safe coming into their own town?"
Meanwhile, local charity shop volunteer Hannah said he now "hates" the town, adding: "Working here as a woman is scary". According to her, hundreds of men get shuttle bus services into the town centre every Thursday.
