PRESSURE is mounting to find alternative accommodation for the Penally Camp asylum seekers, in the hope that the Home Office could pull out after the facility's temporary planning consent expires in March.

The Welsh Government is being urged by local MP and Welsh Secretary Simon Hart to seek other locations with the aim of the Home Office being persuaded to hand the site back to the Ministry of Defence.

Mr Hart has informed residents that he has told the Home Office he feels it is 'unlikely' that Pembrokeshire County Council would grant consent.

"To challenge this would cause heightened tensions once again," he forecast.

With this in mind, he has asked the Welsh Government to identify 'suitable alternative accommodation in line with their Nation of Sanctuary policy for asylum seekers'.

He added:“As Welsh Government have expressed a view (shared by many on both ‘sides’ of the debate) that Penally is unsuitable, I hope they will seize the opportunity to work with me in identifying alternatives as a matter of urgency.”

In correspondence to Welsh deputy minister Jane Hutt, Mr Hart suggested:

"If Welsh Government was able to fulfil the Nation of Sanctuary commitment and finds good accommodation (not hotels or other forms of temporary accommodation) for a significant number of asylum seekers, the Home Office could potentially be persuaded not to extend its consent and to vacate in March."

Home Secretary Priti Patel has insisted the camp is ‘safe and habitable’, despite claims of an in-camp hunger strike and residents’ illness over inadequate nutrition and poor conditions.

https://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/18948139.home-secretary-priti-patel-insists-penally-camp-safe-habitable-despite-contrary-claims/

The village’s county councillor, Jon Preston, has now produced Freedom of Information and email evidence that the Home Office was considering the use of the camp as far back as 2016 but these plans were subsequently ‘shelved’.

In a letter to Pembrokeshire County Council leader David Simpson, Cllr Preston said: “It would be reasonable to assume that the camp was not suitable at that time and remains so now.

Directing him to Mr Hart’s recent comments, he added:

“It is also pertinent to point out that the Home Office have not yet submitted a planning application.

“Due to the timescales involved in such an application, it is unlikely that a determination could be made before the permitted development period expires.

"I remain unconvinced that there is any honourable intention to submit such an application.

"It continues to sadden me to see the anxiety on both sides of the camp fence, whilst political manoeuvring continues to keep local people ill-informed and promotes an environment of hostility and uncertainty.

"Such apathetic regard to process and the wellbeing of individuals is unacceptable.

"In the event of any possible future public enquiry I thought it prudent that you were fully aware of these exchanges."