Outrage over plans to house 1,000 migrants in sleepy village with population of just 100

A DEVELOPER has sparked outrage with plans to build a refugee centre for 1,000 migrants in a village with a population of just 100. Charlie Tull wants to convert a disused business park into a 'one stop shop' for people fleeing war in the Middle East.  

Plans are underway to house 1,000 migrants in the English countryside

The eight-acre site would contain accommodation, an asylum processing unit, a medical centre, recreation and educational facilities. Local residents in Littleton-upon-Severn in Gloucestershire say the site is too isolated and the influx will swamp the village, which has just two churches and a pub.

Littleton-upon-Severn has a population of just 1,000

But 58-year-old Mr Tull says the site will be "completely inclusive" and those living there will have no need to leave the site and integrate with the local community. He said: "Whether we like it or not the dam has burst a few thousand miles away and migrants are finding their way to the UK. 

"The numbers are increasing, so something needs to happened - not only to deal with the existing problem but to deal with the future problem as things get worse."


The proposed site was once the Whale Wharf Business Park, which accommodated a high-tech company, with up to 550 workers. But it has been empty for 12 years and Mr Tull has struggled to find a new use for the site after buying it in 2003.


In 2011 he won a three-year planning battle to convert the two-storey office blocks into a children's educational activity centre for 300 youngsters. But the saga took so long it was no longer considered economically viable and the project was scrapped.

Mr Tull, who lives 35 miles way from the site in Corsham, Wilts, got the idea for an asylum centre after visiting the 'Jungle' migrant camp in Calais. He said: "I have been volunteering with a support group for some time and I have seen what it is like first-hand."

Littleton has just 60 houses and a population of around 100 but lies just a few miles from the Severn Estuary, which has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world. An earlier report by the Environment Agency said the site would flood within 35 minutes if defences are breached, with depths of up to 2.5 metres.

Littleton has no public transport links and the development site lies a mile from the nearest main road down a single-track lane.But Mr Tull says the proposed development would have little impact on the local community because it would be self-contained.

It would include medical facilities such as a GP clinic, midwife services, counselling and a dentist.
The recreational activities include areas for arts and crafts and a sports hall. "What we are proposing is a destination that is completely inclusive - it has recreation, healthcare, it has all that is needed for the migrants," Mr Tull said.

"They wouldn't be integrated into the local community - it is a secure environment and would be managed by the government's contractor. "This is the least traffic generator you could get because migrants don't commute to work every day."

He believes these large processing centres - similar to those used in Germany - are the solution to dealing with the wave of immigrants coming over from Syria. "It's an enormous problem and there are no emergency measures in place and there is a huge shortage of housing," he added.

Mr Tull is yet to submit a planning application for the development but has approached Clearsprings, the contractor tasked with managing asylum seekers in the South West. However, the plan would need the backing of the Home Office and Mr Tull is currently drumming up support from officials.

"On a daily basis migrants are dropping out the back of HGV and the contractor has to deal with that," he said.

"There is a desperate need for this kind of facility and we can provide this quickly and cost-effectively."
However, Matthew Riddle, the leader of South Gloucestershire Council, said it is unlikely to receive a positive reception among councillors or locals.

The Conservative, who represents the Severn area on the council, said it is not in keeping with Government's plan on integrating migrants.

"This plan doesn't fit with the Government's view that migrants should be dispersed in small numbers and integrated into the local community," he said.

"But this would see a large concentration in a location with no transport links and no local infrastructure to support it."