AIBU to feel helpless about a large asylum camp in our village?

[putupwhatever]

My village has been chosen for a 1500 open asylum camp for single men. It will be an open camp (as the men haven't done anything wrong so aren't detained.)

The thing is the village only has 700 people and it is pretty isolated. it's about 10 miles to the nearest city and you can walk to another small village. There is a playpark, a pub and a primary school.

It has to go through planning, but the government have changed the planning laws so that they grant themselves planning and you can't see it as it is deemed sensitive. So they will just grant themselves planning and you can't oppose it without a judicial review--by which time it will probably be already open.

They want to reduce the number of people in hotels. But am AIBU to think that this puts the burden of sorting these issues out on one tiny community? Feels like we are collateral damage to be honest. The community will be outnumbered 2 to 1 and it feels too much. There is nothing for them to do or places to go. Also the fact that it is all single men put in one massive place with no money or means or anything to do is going to lead to problems

Apparently the camps cost £10 less a night than the hotels. But they don't count the set up costs which are astronomical (the one in Essex was £47 million to set up). So it seems like it's not not even cheaper than the problem it is trying to solve but much more expensive.

AIBU to feel a bit helpless? It seems so unfair but there is nothing I can do. We wouldn't be able to move from the village anyway as no one would buy a house here.

Linton-on-Ouse from the numbers surely? If so you have my sympathies OP as that village is tiny and has nothing for 1500 single blokes. They won't be integrating as there is nothing there and the infrastructure isn't in place for an additional 1.5k people.

I agree but I think it’s interesting that people in general (including British men) only acknowledge that men are a danger as a class when it comes to asylum seekers.

We know it’s true of men as a class in general but it gets swept under the carpet otherwise.

The other thing is that it is really difficult to talk about. You've got a group of people than think you are racist to object to it at all and it will all be lovely and fine, and then there all the other side salivating about coming and causing trouble.

The village is literally just one road with couple going off it and it's so weird to see it in the national news. There is nothing here.

Not a camp but there was talk about housing a huge number at a hotel in my village in wales and local concerns were very similar and MPs and residents were extremely vocal. A village of 1000 with little infrastructure (one small shop, couple of pubs and no regular buses to anywhere) was to be swelled to 2500, similarly adding about 1500 asylum seeking men.

anyway although planning was initially granted, on appeal the council did relent and it’s not going ahead (at least for now)

I don’t know the answer but you’re absolutely right to not be happy about this.

Oh yes maybe. That would make more sense with OP saying it was “in” the village actually. I just saw the RAF Barnham article the other day so had it in my mind.

How rubbish for them as well, just being plonked in the middle of nowhere with no money and no right to work or drive or anything while they wait to be processed at some vague point in the future. No one's a winner with this plan. Except I guess the companies being paid to set up these places

we don't have a shop or a church. It is literally just a road. we have a primary school, a playpark and a pub.

I would imagine working with small groups in the community would lend itself to having more positive meaningful relationships. I think the scale of 1500 is too much and prevent what you are talking about. The scale will actually cause a lot more problems that you probably wouldn't get working with smaller groups.

YANBU.

People don't like the idea but I think the least disruptive option would be to house them in HMOs in cities - no big warehouses full of men, close to services and settled communities who speak the same language - and then process their asylum claims quickly.

I say this as someone who lives in a grotty part of a city surrounded by HMOs.

right on the money.

£49 million for Kier to build Wethersfield, and no doubt Serco will have the nose in the trough to run it.

i don’t think you a racist to object, and I’m as “anti-racist” as they come.

I think you are on the receiving end of other people’s racism, those who pack all asylum seekers together as criminals and reprobates, and have forced the closure of hotels and HMOs

These people have to live somewhere ..and now they will live somewhere unsuitable.

I mean I think that any underemployed group of 1500 men left to their own devices in an isolated village would cause issues . I think its probably complicated by being all from different cultures and from a really different culture from the village itself.

What?

All asylum seekers are criminals? Wild.

Really sorry OP. I would be absolutely devastated.

Well we had this thing called the Magna Carta where we all agreed no imprisonment without trial. So you'd be rolling back a thousand years of freedoms and taking us back to the feudal age with that policy.

Yes I think racists/islamophobes/the far right have made it very difficult to have a balanced conversation about these things. They'll come in and say ridiculous things like 'it's vile they're all criminals' and you don't want to be lumped in with that or have the conversation derailed.

It's the same as building new build developments to be sold, you have to consider the impact on local infrastructure. The problem is, infrastructure is terrible everywhere, so there isn't really a good solution.

Apart from the fact you have never met a 'bad' one you seem to have a rather 'soft and cosy' rose coloured spectacle view of this situation .
I wonder if your opinion would remain the same if this were your village.
Whoever the large group of single men are and wherever they come from surely you are not deluded enough to not be aware of the impact they would have on a small community and particularly the women ,girls and children in that community.
Having read your post again , i am actually wondering if you are taking the piss .

So do a trial.

Are you supposed to be here?

A - yes, then fine go
B - No - then leave
C - Undetermined - in which case you can stay here until we decide or you can leave

Not difficult. Every other country on the planet does this.

I absolutely feel for you OP. I would love to know how many of all of these do-gooders wouldn't object if it was on their doorstep. The stats on crimes in these scenarios speak for themselves.

I am absolutely anti racist and pro refugee rights, but it does seem to be basic common sense asylum seekers should be housed in areas they can integrate with the local communities. ie: London or nearby where they will also be able to access resources, meet people from their home country and generally live a life and contribute through volunteering etc whilst awaiting their claims to be processed.

Most people don’t want asylum seekers living near them.

Australia flies and ships undocumented migrants and asylum seekers who arrive by boat to remote islands for detention and processing.

The UK's controversial deportation agreement with Rwanda was officially scrapped by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in 2024.

What is the answer?

Well I'm from London and have literally just posted it would be way better to have asylum groups here, for all sorts of reasons, not least that with a population of 8 million we can integrate bigger groups than other places. There is asylum housing directly opposite me and the residents are lovely.

I agree!

Why put them in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and think for a minute it’ll be ok?

Ik the barracks will hold more men than living in the village. I’m sure most would feel the same as you do. Going by yanbu vote they do.

I think its different when you are in a highly disciplined environment where you are training and it's all about hierarchy and following orders. Plus you are being paid and doing a job and have chosen to do it and can drive off and do what you want when your shift is over. There were families on site too but I think it was probably proportionally more male.