Gosport residents share anger at living 'next door' to 600 illegal migrants and foreign criminals

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One resident who has lived next to the removal centre for almost two decades says the expansion has worn him out

Residents in Gosport living just metres from an immigration removal centre have told GB News there has been “blanket silence” from the Government after they began construction to make the site almost five times bigger.

Haslar immigration removal centre in Gosport will now be used to detain 600 foreign criminals and illegal migrants after the Home Office expanded its plans to reopen the site.

The site was used to detain 198 illegal migrants up until 2015, when it was closed. But last year the Government announced plans to reopen the site to house 130 people.

Then earlier this year residents found out the Government was planning to expand the site to house up to 600 people under Crown Development plans.

“It’s the closest immigration removal centre to houses anywhere in the country,” local resident Graham Phillips declares.

Mr Phillips, 75, has lived next to the removal centre for almost two decades. He says this expansion has worn him out.

“Emotionally it grinds you down; the continuous construction, the noise, the relentless beep beep beep from the diggers.”

“Nobody asked for this, everyone is in the same boat. No one in their wildest dreams imagined the home office would expand to as many as 600 migrants”, Graham said.

The problem has become so bad that Graham is now trying to sell his £650,000 home.

It’s been on the market for almost a year, but he says “people just don’t want to live near an immigration removal centre”.

He thinks he will have to sell the property for as much as £100,000 below market value.

Another local resident, Cameron Goad, said he’s worried about “the sheer scale” of the site.

“We've always been quite used to having a facility here in one form or another but now they have decided to sort of more than double it in size without any consultation.”

There will now be a planning inquiry taking place in November but Cameron says “I don't know what difference that will make, it's still going to go ahead.

“We're still going to have a massive facility of 600 illegal immigrants and foreign criminals on our doorstep.”

Local MP Caroline Dininage told GB News: “The Government has mishandled this right from square one. They have spectacularly failed to communicate properly with local people.

“The process of redeveloping on the original site has been hellish, nightmarish, for people living around this area.

“Noise, dust, disturbance, and there’s nobody at the Home Office that they can complain to. This site is just not capable of taking 600 people.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We make no apology for significantly expanding our detention capacity which will see more than 45,000 additional foreign criminals and illegal migrants removed over the coming decade.

“All Crown Development planning applications require extensive engagement, and we encourage residents and stakeholders to share their views through the formal process.”