With the Home Office making their intentions clear to Pembrokeshire County Council this week that a planning application is being prepared to allow the temporary use of Penally Camp as an asylum seekers accommodation centre to continue for a further six months (beyond March 21 2021) Penally county councillor Jon Preston has slammed the UK Government’s ‘total lack of empathy’ shown to all the people affected by the matter.

Following the Home Secretary Priti Patel’s comments in the House of Commons on Monday that the Home Office consult ‘with everybody’ on issues regarding the Penally asylum seekers camp, and correspondence that was sent out to the constituents of MP for South Pembrokeshire and Welsh Secretary of State Simon Hart last week where he stated that he had made a repeated request to the Welsh Government in finding alternative accommodation for asylum seekers currently residing at the facility, to hasten the closure of the camp, Plaid Cymru’s county councillor for the Penally ward Clr. Preston in turn penned an open letter to Mr. Hart asking him to respond to Priti Patel’s claims that the Home Office had consulted the local authority on the repurposing of the camp.

Clr. Preston warned that there exists a possibility that enforcement action may be taken by the local authority in the circumstances.

“On behalf of the community of Penally and the service users at the camp I would welcome assurance that the Home Office will ensure that the return of Penally camp to the MoD is managed without the need of enforcement action and avoid further distress to those already affected by this situation,” said Clr. Preston in his correspondence to Mr. Hart.

Giving an update following the announcement on Wednesday (February 10) by PCC that the Home Office have now made it clear that any planning application for the former Military of Defence will not be submitted to the local authority until around mid-April 2021, Clr. Preston remarked: “I have not as yet received a response from my letter to Simon Hart MP but it is now clear that the Home Office are proceeding in a manner I had specifically asked to be avoided.

“Yet again, the Home Office have chosen to act on the very periphery of what is lawful and continue to hold a community and vulnerable adults in an extended period of uncertainty.

“I have no doubt that attempts will be made to undermine Welsh Government’s position on this but the fact remains that immigration is not a devolved matter,” he continued.

“This was a decision made by a cabinet that our MP and Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart is part of.

“This whole situation, from the mismanagement of the asylum process to the absence of any consultation whatsoever, the responsibility is that of the UK Government.

“Following this most recent development and the total lack of empathy shown to all the people affected by this situation I again ask Simon Hart to engage with the local community, listen to our concerns and provide absolute assurance that he has the best interests of those he represents at the forefront of his dealings with the Home Office.

“The absolute priority should be to return Penally camp to the MoD and accommodate the service users in the agreed support networks within the UK.

“If this is not going to be the case then I fail to see how his position can remain tenable,” added Clr. Preston.

Providing an update to residents in the locality on the situation via email towards the end of last year, Mr. Hart himself said: “The temporary planning permission under which the Home Office occupy the site expires in March. I have informed the Home Office that I think it is unlikely that the Local Authority will grant consent and that to challenge this could cause heightened tensions once again.”

The Welsh Liberal Democrats have again also called on the Home Office and the Welsh Government to work together to enable the asylum seekers at Penally Camp to move to suitable dispersed accommodation and close the camp.

In response to a Parliamentary Question from Liberal Democrat MP, Wendy Chamberlain, the Home Office Minister Chris Philp stated on last month that “it remains our intention to move all individuals in contingency accommodation as soon as reasonable practical, we are hoping to commence moves for small numbers of people out from week commencing January 18.”

Alistair Cameron, Welsh Liberal Democrat Senedd Candidate for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire said today (February 11): “The Home Office Minister, Chris Philp has stated that they intend to move everyone into suitable dispersed accommodation. However, this movement has been painfully slow and some of the most vulnerable asylum seekers are still at Penally.

“We need to see both the Home Office and the Welsh Government working closely together to ensure that the asylum seekers can be moved into suitable dispersed accommodation.

“However, to achieve this, the Home Office must provide the necessary funding in line with their responsibilities for the health, safety and welfare of the asylum seekers,” added Mr. Cameron.

The Home Office have stated that they will begin the required pre-application consultation, a formal 28-day period for public consultation process, in mid-March. 

Following the consultation period, the responses will be collated and the pre-application consultation report prepared - meaning that the site will therefore be under occupation, but without the requisite planning consents being in place, whilst the application process is followed.

A spokesperson for Pembrokeshire County Council stated: “The Council have been in continual contact with the Home Office and their planning consultant over the last five months, seeking clarification around their planning intention - and this recent correspondence confirms their intention to progress a planning application.

“We are disappointed that the Home Office have only now made their intent clear.

“It is of concern that they have not been able to submit a planning application within the required timescale.

“The Council has always challenged the Home Office as to the suitability of the accommodation.

“We have also always tried to work with key bodies involved to ensure those in the camp and the surrounding community are kept safe, treated with dignity.

“We acknowledge this latest update is unsettling and we will continue to work to ensure community cohesion can be restored following this disruptive decision,” they added.