Fresh fears for asylum centre

More than 2,000 people objected to the plans

Campaigners celebrating the collapse of plans to build an asylum centre in a Worcestershire village have been warned the proposal could still go ahead.

Birmingham MP Steve McCabe said the proposed 750-bed centre could still be built despite plans being dropped by the Home Office.

Home Office minister Beverley Hughes said in the Commons on 5 November that the proposed site at a disused air base in Throckmorton was no longer viable.

In her Commons statement, Ms Hughes said the Throckmorton site had been dropped because the government could not acquire the land quickly enough to meet its own timescale.

Asylum is a national issue and other areas will have to take their share of the problem

MP Steve McCabe

But Mr McCabe, MP for Hall Green, said although Throckmorton had been ruled out of a pilot scheme to set up asylum centres in rural areas, it did not mean the site would not be chosen again.

Mr McCabe said the site had been deemed suitable by Ms Hughes and could still be chosen in the future.

"Asylum is a national issue and other areas will have to take their share of the problem," he said.

He said building an asylum centre in Worcestershire could take the pressure off Birmingham.

Objected

Liz Tucker, spokeswoman for Pact (Protest at the Asylum Centre in Throckmorton), said campaigners would continue to be vigilant.

"Everybody knows that the basic principle of building a centre in Throckmorton is wrong.

"Experts who work with refugees have said the site isn't suitable and that will always be the case.

"I would like to think that when the pilot scheme is set up in other areas I hope that the future of Throckmorton will be much clearer."

More than 2,000 people objected to the plans for Throckmorton claiming that asylum seekers should not be housed in rural areas.