By Rebecca Maer
Eastbourne Borough Council has objected to a Home Office proposal to house up to 125 asylum seekers in the former Esperance Hospital in the town centre, currently being converted into one-bedroom flats, it emerged tonight.
A council spokesman said: “I can confirm the council has written to the Home Office and objected.” He added there were no further details at the moment.
Eastbourne Liberal Democrat MP Josh Babarinde said tonight he had written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper earlier this month to express his concerns and urge her to reconsider.
And Cllr Robert Smart, leader of the opposition Conservative group on the council, condemned the plan as showing an “appalling disregard” for the needs of local people and the town.
The Esperance site is within a conservation area just off Eastbourne seafront, near the town centre.
What does the Home Office say?
The Eastbourne Reporter approached the Home Office for a response and we received a statement tonight. It is longstanding Government policy not to comment on individual accommodation sites so Eastbourne is not specifically mentioned.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, with tens of thousands of cases stuck in a backlog. It remains our commitment to house people in more cost-effective and suitable accommodation in communities, achieving better value for the tax-payer.
“Ultimately, by smashing the criminal gangs, processing the inherited cases and increasing appeals capacity in the courts, we will restore order to the system so that it operates swiftly, firmly and fairly.”
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.
It said that it worked with local authorities and key stakeholders to ensure it considered “local feedback”.
What does Eastbourne’s MP say?
Mr Babarinde stated in a press release released tonight that the Home Office and accommodation provider Clearsprings Ready Homes were seeking to use Esperance House and Esperance Lodge in Hartington Place as “dispersal accommodation” for up to 125 people seeking asylum.
Planning permission was granted in 2020 to convert the building, which closed as a hospital in 2019, into 45 apartments.
Mr Babarinde said that council, education and health authorities have expressed concerns about a lack of school places, a lack of GP appointments and a significant homeless crisis in the town as key concerns.
He wrote in his letter to Ms Cooper: “Like all communities, our town takes seriously our part in the legal duty to house those seeking asylum, until their claims are assessed.
“This responsibility must include adequate scrutiny of the challenges that may be involved in any scheme proposed”.
He also expressed concern over the lack of consultation with local residents and local support organisations.
“I have sincere concerns that these issues – that stand to affect all stakeholders – have not been sufficiently addressed by the Home Office, nor by Clearsprings Ready Homes. I am therefore calling for the Government to reconsider mobilising Esperance House for this scheme,” he wrote in the letter.
What is the Conservative group’s view?
Cllr Smart said the Home Office was finalising proposals for a five-year lease on the site, despite serious safety concerns raised by Sussex Police and an objection from Liberal Democrat-controlled Eastbourne Borough Council.
Cllr Smart, pictured in the main photo at the site, said in a press release: “This proposal from the Home Office shows an appalling disregard for Eastbourne’s future.
“Esperance House is in a neighbourhood made up largely of elderly and vulnerable residents and is close to the heart of Eastbourne’s tourism and hospitality businesses. It would be hard to find a site less suitable for housing asylum seekers.
“We also have one of the most acute housing shortages in the south-east. It would be ludicrous to divert this site from providing the much-needed homes local people need.”
Some seafront hotels in Eastbourne were used to temporarily house asylum seekers until a few months ago. We spoke to one young Iraqi in 2022 about his hazarous journey to seek sanctuary in the UK.
Cllr Smart told the Eastbourne Reporter: “Here we have a prime development in a prime location going to be used to import new people. It’s in a conservation area in a town dependent on tourism for the economy – we are against it and the council is objecting.”
Major renovation works have been taking place in the building in recent years.
The Conservative opposition group has launched a petition calling on the Government and Eastbourne Borough Council to halt these plans.
:: Main photo: Eastbourne Conservatives
