A 600-YEAR-OLD fort in a quiet seaside town could become a migrant hotel under plans to rehouse asylum seekers.
The UK’s oldest “sea fort” in Gosport, Hampshire, is a disused military site which dates back to the 15th century and was shut down in 2021.
SolentFort Blockhouse, by Portsmouth Harbour, is reportedly being considered to house migrants as the Government moves them from hotels[/caption]
SolentThe UK’s oldest “sea fort” in Gosport, Hampshire, is a disused military site[/caption]
SolentThe 52-acre site is home to three blockhouses (small defensive forts)[/caption]
Gary StoneDefence Secretary John Healey is considering using military sites to house asylum seekers temporarily[/caption]
As part of a pledge to end the use of taxpayer-funded migrant hotels, the Government is looking at all military sites to decide if they could be used as alternative accommodation.
When Defence Minister Luke Pollard was asked if Fort Blockhouse may be used to house migrants, he refused to rule it out.
He said: “As every Government department can contribute something to this effort [to tackle the small boats crisis], it’s right that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) does so.”
Last week, he said all sites are being reviewed: “We’re looking at all the military sites that the MoD has.
“Some of those have been visited by the Home Office in the past, both under this Government and especially under the previous administration.
“The priority now is not only to process the asylum applicants that weren’t being done under the last Government, that we’re speeding up, but to close the asylum hotels.
“So to do that, we’ve got to provide temporary and adequate accommodation.”
The 52-acre site is home to three blockhouses (small defensive forts).
There is also a blockhouse used for a museum and one used as a boatyard for a sailing club.
When the old military site was active as a submarine base, it employed 2,500 people.
It was built up over five centuries, starting in 1431. It served as one of the south coast’s biggest forts until 1905.
It then became the home of the Navy’s submarine service.
In 2016, when the MoD looked at selling the site, it was touted as a potential tourist hotspot or hotel.
Then two years ago, it was reported that Fort Blockhouse could be used for “residential properties along with marine employment“.
Dame Caroline Dineage, the Tory MP for Gosport, slammed the preposition for the historic site to now be used for alternative migrant accommodation.
She said it would be a “terrible outcome” if asylum seekers were to be housed in the “unique and special asset”.
It comes after the disastrous Bibby Stockholm barge, used by the Tories to house migrants, was shut down after being moored at Portland Port in Dorset for two years.
Both the public and Labour MPs widely criticised the barge’s use.
The giant vessel housed 500 asylum seekers and reportedly provided en-suite rooms with a gym, cinema room, sports pitch and restaurant.
A value-for-money assessment claimed a night in the Bibby Stockholm cost £120 while a hotel was £140.
Start-up costs for the Bibby Stockholm totalled £22million.
Ministers bought the barge, moored off Portland, Dorset, to cut the £8million-a-day hotel cost to taxpayers.
But a myriad of horror stories emerged in the two years it was in use.
The heartbroken family of Leonard Farruku, a 27-year-old man from Albania, slammed the controversial barge after he died.
He paid €4,000 to cross the English Channel in a small boat to arrive in the country.
But he was found unresponsive in a shower cubicle onboard in December 2023.
An inquest into his death heard he had struggled with his mental health since the death of his parents and he found conditions on the barge “very difficult”.
He was reportedly in a “state of distress” shortly before he died.
Separately, a migrant on the barge reportedly sexually assaulted a woman on a nearby beach.
Two others reportedly sexually assaulted a woman in a club four miles from where the barge was moored.
Another went on the run after being caught with drugs.
One bus firm even refused to transport asylum seekers from a hotel to the barge because it feared negative publicity amid protests.
Reports from inside the barge claimed it was a “floating prison” – with some refusing to board and “squeeze into the small space”.
New Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is looking at swapping migrants from hotels to military barracks and student halls.
She has been ordered by the PM to “get a grip” on the small boats crisis, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
Dozens of asylum hotels are expected to close after they became the focal point of several demonstrations in recent months.
Defence Secretary John Healey is considering using military sites to house asylum seekers temporarily, he confirmed.
It comes as Brits fumed after reports surfaced showing migrants living it up at the expense of the taxpayer and mounting protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers.
This summer also saw hundreds of disgruntled Brits line their streets with the St George’s flag to reassert their patriotism.
SolentWhen the old military site was active as a submarine base, it employed 2,500 people[/caption]
ReutersIt comes after the disastrous Bibby Stockholm barge, used by the Tories to house migrants, was shut down after being moored at Portland Port in Dorset for two years[/caption]
AlamyThe Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, was the site of several massive protests after it emerged asylum seekers were being housed there[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
