County Durham Labour calls for clarity on Ministry of Justice proposals.
A government plan to scrap a residential development in favour of an immigration detention centre in rural County Durham has been blasted by Labour councillors.
County Durham Labour is demanding answers after Ministry of Justice plans emerged proposing to turn the former Hassockfield Detention Centre into a Category 3-style prison to detain around 80 people who have had applications for UK residency denied.
Durham County Council had approved a planning application from Homes England for 127 new homes on the site, over a year ago.
These plans, vehemently opposed by Conservative constituency MP, Richard Holden, included much-needed social housing, with close to 10,500 people currently on the county waiting list for a house.
County Durham Labour – which today met virtually to outline opposition to the plans – is asking North West Durham MP Holden:
- Why he opposed the Homes England scheme?
- When did he know about MoJ intentions for Hassockfield?
- Why he didn’t share this information with constituents?
- Why he canvassed constituents about reopening Hassockfields in a Facebook survey last December?
Cllr Malcolm Clarke, who represents Delves Lane ward, said: “I was shocked to learn that the plans for much needed social housing has been scrapped in favour of an immigration detention centre.
“It was a surprise at the time to note the opposition to social housing by local independent councillors and also the opposition from Richard Holden. Perhaps we now have an answer to the question. ‘Why was the local MP opposed to social housing on this site?’
“This is not the first time online surveys have been used by Richard as a way of teasing out only the answers he wants. Constituents will view future surveys with suspicion if the outcomes, undisclosed at the time, are already in place.”
The MoJ intends to use the site for an immigration detention centre, which would hold on remand around 80 people – who have had applications for residency denied – in a facility operating to the same strict staffing and security standards, as a normal Cat 3 prison.
The proposals do not need consent from Durham County Council, as the site has historic designation as being of use for “detention purposes”.
Cllr Jane Brown, who also represents Delves Lane, said: “Where is the sense in dragging people – who may have been rescued from dangerous refugee boats in the English Channel or the back of lorries parked in southern ports – over 400 miles up the country into the hills on County Durham? It is madness.
“That aside, Richard Holden is also on record and has posted on social media as being completely opposed to these detention centres. So, is he agreeable to the opening of one in his constituency?”
Hassockfield Detention Centre was closed in November 2014, but it is a site that has been dogged by controversy for decades:
- In 2015, it was reported that a private company, employed by the Government to operate Hassockfield, had been paid more than £1m for running the empty secure children’s unit for seven weeks
- In 2004, a 14-year-old boy became the youngest child to die in custody for more than a century when he hanged himself at the facility
- Hassockfield occupied the site of a former detention centre, Medomsley. In 2003 and 2005, two former staff members were jailed for historical sexual abuse of boys at Medomsley in the 70s and 80s
- Durham Police’s Operation Seabrook was launched after a thousand former detainees at the centre reported allegations of sexual and physical abuse there.