'There is no risk assessment, and that’s one of the key things that’s lacking here,' Kim Bailey said
A campaign leader fighting the Government’s plans to house asylum seekers in Crowborough has spoken to GB News about the ongoing struggles of the local community.
Kim Bailey, chairman of the Crowborough Shield campaign group, said the locals felt “abandoned” by authorities.
Crowborough Shield is currently pursuing legal action to end the housing of 350 migrants in a nearby army camp.
Speaking to Patrick Christys, Ms Bailey said residents had been forced into a “long, hard slog” to make their voices heard, accusing Labour of pushing through decisions without sufficient consultation.
“You’ve got Linton, you’ve got Bicester, Barnham and all the other towns that are going to be going through this. There is no risk assessment, and that’s one of the key things that’s lacking here.”
The campaign leader claimed the arrival of asylum seekers had created concerns around pressure on local services and behaviour in public spaces.
She described an incident where she said she saw an asylum seeker from the site drinking before collapsing in a local park.
“I took some children to the park, and we were there just having a picnic,” she began.
“There was an asylum seeker from the camp who had been drinking all day. We had reports that he’d been drinking all day. It had been reported to the police.
“The police didn’t attend, but we actually watched him stagger across past these children in the park and then go and collapse over the other side of the park.”
Ms Bailey said she believed issues around alcohol and drug use were being displaced into the wider community because of restrictions at the accommodation site.
“There’s a zero tolerance for alcohol and drugs on the camp, so they’re not allowed to take it on the camp. So what are they going to do? It spills out into the streets, into the parks.”
She added: “This is not behaviour that should be accepted in any children’s park or even in the streets.”
Ms Bailey also criticised local authorities for their handling of the situation, claiming residents had been left without sufficient support.
“They have abandoned us,” she said of Wealden District Council’s decision not to support the group’s legal challenge against the Home Office.
“All of the other towns have got their district councils backing them. They have completely abandoned us and said that they will not do it.”
Ms Bailey accused the council of focusing on welcoming asylum seekers rather than addressing residents’ concerns over the site.
“They feel it’s more important that the residents are getting welcome packs of shower gel and chocolate rather than that the conditions are unsuitable,” she said.
The campaign group’s legal challenge against the Home Office argues emergency powers were wrongly used and residents were not properly consulted.
Ms Bailey accused Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood of sneaking migrants in “under the cover of darkness with no consultation".
“There is no democracy in that,” the Crowborough resident said.
The Home Office has previously said that asylum accommodation is provided to people who would otherwise be destitute while their claims are processed and accommodation sites are assessed before use.
