Asylum centres 'hinder integration'

Sites like Throckmorton are too rural, says Singh

Large new asylum centres will hinder efforts to help new immigrants integrate into British society, the chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) has warned.

Gurbux Singh is set to attack the government's latest plans in a keynote speech to mark the 25 years of the CRE.

Not a terribly sensible way of ensuring that newcomers are integrated into the society

Gurbux Singh
CRE chairman

Ministers this week faced criticism after they named the sites for three new asylum centres in essentially rural areas.

In his speech, Mr Singh will also urge ministers to be more positive about the contribution asylum seekers can make in Britain.

Speaking at the Royal Society of Arts in London, the CRE chief is expected to question how effective the new, large-scale asylum centres will be.

Skills worries

Mr Singh told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Placing asylum seekers in principally rural environments again removed from our mainstream communities is not a terribly sensible way of ensuring that newcomers are integrated into the society."

Nor, he said, would it help mainstream Britain to be comfortable with those immigrants.

He added: "It really is simply saying: 'let us put these people away from the main focus'."

Gurbux Singh wants a more positive words about asylum seekers

Mr Singh is also set to stress the need to make sure young people are well-skilled.

He will argue that an unskilled workforce is a recipe for disaster because workers will see immigrants as taking away their jobs.

Mr Singh is stressing the contribution that asylum seekers could make to the UK economy.

Britain, like the rest of Europe, needs immigrants to fill shortages in both the skilled and unskilled labour markets, he argues.

Local protests

Immigration, citizenship and social cohesion will also feature in the speech.

Mr Singh told Today: "Unless we have equality in this country matters of citizenship, identity and cohesion will not actually happen."

The government this week said it planned to build the new asylum centres at Throckmorton, near Pershore in Worcestershire, RAF Newton, in Nottinghamshire, and at Bicester, Oxfordshire.

As many as 15 asylum seeker accommodation centres could be built across the UK - despite an angry response from residents in the locations chosen for the three pilot "villages".

The centres mark an end to Labour's old policy of dispersing refugees to towns across Britain and the voucher system for them to buy food and other essentials.

Alternative policy

With accommodation for up to 750 people at each centre, the controversial developments will be used to house people awaiting decisions on asylum applications.

One refugee group warned the plans were a "recipe for racial tension" but Downing Street says it is not "dumping people on the countryside with no facilities".

Centre residents would be free to come and go except at night, when they would be expected to be on site.

Proposals to educate children inside the camps have drawn fierce criticism from refugee groups, who advocate small centres in cities, so children could go to local schools.

Residents near the planned sites fear there could be a repeat of the fire that damaged much of the Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire.