Permanent immigration removal centre plan for Manston scrapped says North Thanet MP

manstonlmmain — Manston processing centre Photo Louis McLaren

Home Office proposals to construct an Immigration Removal Centre adjacent to the Asylum Processing Centre at Manston have been shelved, says North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale.

Following representations from the veteran MP, who met with the Home Secretary before Christmas, James Cleverly has this morning confirmed: “I have taken the decision not to proceed with the Immigration Removal Centre at this time.”

Last August The Isle of Thanet News revealed that Manston processing centre was one of three sites where survey work was to be carried out as part of proposals for ‘rapid construction’ at immigration premises.

In February Thanet council said it had received confirmation that a permanent removal centre was planned at Manston alongside the current asylum seeker processing centre.

Cllr Everitt initially wrote to then immigration minister Robert Jenrick MP about the matter last November, prompted by information from Kent County Council that the government was planning to build the secure migrant removal centre at Manston with accommodation for 360 people at the outset, later to rise to 700.

In December a contract published by government, with an estimated value excluding VAT of £700m over a term of 6 years, said: “The Home Office is currently transforming the site at Manston to establish permanent, purpose-built facilities, coordinated by the Manston Transformation Programme.

“The Programme is looking for partner(s) to deliver a suitable operation and wrap around services for the operations at Western Jet Foil and Manston, plus Medical Services, for an initial term of 6 years with an option to extend for an additional 2 x 24 month periods.”

At that time the Home Office said new detention sites under the contract were not yet confirmed and Manston would continue to operate as a short term processing facility.

Sir Roger said he was pleased the removal centre plan has now been scrapped.

He said: “I am pleased that this Home Secretary has taken on board my concerns. I have been aware for some time that while Ministers have repeatedly said that there will be no `mission creep` at Manston there has been an alternative agenda within the Home Office.

“While the Processing Centre may not be perfect – nothing ever is – I regard it as an efficient and well-run operation that is doing the job that it was established to do.

“ The addition of a Removal Centre – a euphemism for a secure `asylum prison` – would not have been welcomed locally and represents a red line that I would not wish to see crossed.

“The plans to upgrade the reception infrastructure – which I do welcome – will go ahead. This will provide a more efficient and effective processing centre for those still arriving by small boats.

“I am satisfied that the undertakings given by Tom Pursglove as Minister of State before the processing centre opened and reaffirmed by Robert Jenrick and by Suella Braverman , then Home Secretary, are being honoured.”

Cllr Rick Everitt added: “I welcome the latest decision but I am very unhappy about the way the situation has been communicated by the Home Office throughout this process and at this point it is difficult for me to have any confidence in anything they tell us.

“My priority has been to ensure transparency for residents, but the evident confusion within the Home Office – no doubt political in origin – has made this extremely challenging.

“I attended a meeting with officials in January at which they were categoric that a secure detention centre was going ahead, having asked them for clarity before Christmas. We were hearing that second hand but it wasn’t what we understood from a previous face to face meeting in the autumn.

“We then learned this week that it was not happening again. It doesn’t appear to me that anyone at the Home Office has a grip on what they are doing from one month to the next.”

In October and November 2022, the processing centre at Manston became overwhelmed with some 4,000 people. It is designed to hold between 1,000 and 1,500 people as temporary short-term accommodation while immigration checks are made. People were facing significantly longer periods in the centre due to the high numbers making small boat crossings. Issues included reported cases of diphtheria, scabies and norovirus.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to the removal of foreign criminals and those with no right to be in the UK. Despite record pressure on the asylum system, we reduced small boat crossings by more than a third last year and have a clear strategy to process and accommodate migrants arriving in the UK illegally.

“The Illegal Migration Act will build on this success by changing the law so that people who come to the UK illegally can be detained and then swiftly removed to a safe third country or their home country.”

Separately, the Home Office has said it will hold a statutory inquiry into alleged mistreatment of asylum seekers at the processing centre during 2022,

The High Court granted former detainees permission to seek a judicial review after the Home Office failed to launch an inquiry in December.

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