'I'm spending my retirement fighting migrant plan'

A villager leading the campaign against plans to house migrants at a former military base said it was not how he had intended to spend his retirement.

The government has proposed placing up to 931 migrants at RAF Barnham, between Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and Thetford, Norfolk - with locals set to hold a referendum on leaving the UK in protest.

John Bauer, the chairman of Barnham Parish Council, said spearheading the symbolic vote was "energising".

A Home Office spokesperson said it was "listening carefully to the concerns".

"I retired at the end of last year with the expectation I would be able to do a lot of the things that I had been looking forward to doing for a while," said Bauer, speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. It is demanding and exhausting and it is not necessarily what I would have chosen to do in [my retirement]."

RAF Barnham was one of three Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites identified back in June as a potential location for asylum housing.

It came as the government vowed to move away from hotel-based accommodation, but the proposals sparked protests outside the base.

The Home Office had initially sought to house 1,250 asylum seekers at the site, but reduced the number to 931 on Friday after further assessments.

The spokesperson added: "The government is working on a fairer distribution of asylum accommodation across the country, with over £1bn saved in costs since the election.

"This includes closing all asylum hotels and moving to alternative accommodation, including former military sites."

Kim Dines, a resident of 13 years, said: "I've been lying awake at night wondering what is going to happen to us because they [the migrants] are so close.

"We're a village of roughly 600 people, we shouldn't be living in fear, we shouldn't be worried about what's going to be on our doorstep [and] who's around us."

On Monday, villagers met to discuss the next steps towards holding the referendum.

It comes after residents in Piddington, Oxfordshire, voted to withdraw from the UK in opposition to plans to house more than 1,000 migrants at MoD Bicester.

Bauer added: "We want everyone to get involved, to actually get out there and vote, we want the strongest possible message to be sent back to those in power.

"The best way of doing that is with a big turnout and a resounding vote to show the strength of feeling within Barnham."

Exactly when Barnham's vote will take place, and the specific question residents will be asked remain unknown, but will be agreed in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the government's plans will continue through the Urgent Crown Development process, which takes the decision-making power away from West Suffolk Council.

Cliff Waterman, the councillor who leads the West Suffolk authority, said: "We naturally respect the village's democratic right to hold a referendum on this.

"We continue to oppose the use of the base for asylum seeker accommodation, and we are making a case to Government which demonstrates why the site is unsuitable."

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