Northeye: Government spent £15.3m on Bexhill detention site

The Home Office has been accused of wasting millions buying an immigration detention site at more than double the price it was bought for a year before.

About £15.3m was spent on the Northeye site, a former prison in Bexhill-On-Sea, new figures reveal.

Thirteen months before, developers had bought the land for £6.31 million - meaning they turned a profit of £9m.

The government is working on plans to turn the land into accommodation for up to 1,200 men.

A spokesperson for One Life To Live, which campaigns against large-scale asylum containment sites, said: "The taxpayer will want to know how private investors grabbed the Bexhill site last summer for just £6.3 million, and then cleared a 142% profit by simply waiting until the government came along with its chequebook a year later."

Bexhill is one of a number of sites earmarked to hold large numbers of asylum seekers and reduce the Home Office's use of hotels.

About 400 hotels are currently being used to house record numbers of asylum seekers at a cost to the taxpayer of £8m a day.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has told MPs fifty of these hotels will be closed to asylum seekers by January and the government will "not stop there".

Jeff Newnham, who leads the 'Save Northeye' campaign against the development, said: "There is no geographical or fiscal reason to buy contaminated land - with buildings that need demolishing - in one of the most expensive land areas in the UK. £15.3 million before the first brick is even laid.

"There is ample Crown land, with fewer development problems, without having to buy more - unless the government is hell-bent on awarding the previous owners a whopping £9 million profit in under a year."

Last month local MP Huw Merriman said revised plans meant the Bexhill site would now likely become a detention centre for illegal migrants and existing buildings would be demolished.

Home Office sources insist it does not comment on commercial matters but a spokesperson said: "We are committed to the removal of foreign criminals and those with no right to be in the UK.

"We are exploring the use of the Bexhill site for detention purposes and assessments are being undertaken to consider the feasibility.

"We are working with local stakeholders to ensure that any facility is delivered in a way which minimises the impact on the local community."