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Date submitted

17 July 2026

Submitted by

Interested party

I do not wish to attend a hearing. As members of a County Durham campaign dedicated to ending the harm of immigration detention in our locality and elsewhere we wish to add our expert voices to others who are objecting to the planning application to expand Campsfield House IRC. For your information our campaign was founded in February 2021. Lord Alf Dubs attended one of our early online meetings to offer his support and reminded us that "no-one is illegal" - his words. Dubs is of Jewish Czech descent. He was a child refugee on the Kinder Transport, and received a welcome in the UK. He has made his life here and has contributed hugely to upholding and strengthening British values. He remains a strong moral voice defending refugee rights and we are proud to have his endorsement. Our campaign (No To Hassockfield) is led by a core group which includes a retired NHS GP, a professional psychotherapist and a former elected politician, all of whom have considerable in-depth and longstanding knowledge regarding the serious mental health impact of immigration detention on those locked up indefinitely simply for seeking sanctuary. We work closely with Freedom from Torture and Mental Health North East to ensure we have robust information which we use in our discussions with elected politicians at local and national level, and in our awareness-raising work in the local community and in the media. It is very clear to us that the practice of detention is cruel, dehumanising and unnecessary. It causes long-lasting harm, often retraumatising people who have fled political persecution, conflict, disaster, famine, and other events which endanger lives and threaten livelihoods. The reopening and possible expansion of Campsfield IRC risks causing further harm to vulnerable people who have done nothing wrong, with most going on to win their asylum cases, proving that detention is not only unnecessary but highly inappropriate and extremely costly, with the taxpayer footing the bill. The development at Campsfield (as with Derwentside IRC) is at odds with international human rights norms and besmirches the proud British history of welcoming refugees. We understand that the contractor at Campsfield is Mitie. We have experience of this company from their time running Derwentside IRC, where serious concerns were raised around inappropriate behaviour and poor conditions. The outsourcing of security and custody contracts to private companies established for profit does nothing to bolster the local economy. Rather the siting of IRCs creates community tensions and negatively impacts local businesses. In the case of Campsfield we understand this includes a prestigious university technology park and would urge the authorities to avoid inflaming local businesses and communities by needlessly proceeding with this proposal. We know that alternatives to detention exist. A recent government funded UNHCR pilot in our region run by Action Foundation proved that community schemes are both more humane and cheaper with little difference evidenced in the final outcomes of individual asylum cases. It is worth noting that the Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe published an extensive report on alternatives to detention in 2018, noting that, "the wide use of immigration detention as a response to the arrivals of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants raises serious issues of compliance with human rights standards." https://rm.coe.int/steering-committee-for-human-rights-cddh-analysis-of-the-legal-and-pra/1680780997 Furthermore, the Committee of Ministers maintained that “detention of asylum seekers should be the exception”. According to the Commissioner for Human Rights, asylum seekers should, in principle, not be detained and alternatives should always be sought. The report clearly lays out a raft of alternatives, taking into account the specificities of extreme vulnerability and cost effectiveness. To date, the UK remains a member of the Council of Europe and we should play our part in upholding the highest human rights standards. Finally, we note a concern from local objectors in relation to a lack of transparency and scrutiny regarding the planning process. We also experienced a lack of scrutiny in the case of Derwentside IRC, partly due to the pandemic, which enabled the Home Office to ride roughshod over existing well developed plans to use the site for much needed housing and a pocket park. Citizens trust in democracy suffers when local elected officials are ignored and shut out of the process. People have long memories in relation to perceived injustice and the heavy hand of government. We therefore urge the greatest consideration to be given to local voices as they have the biggest stake in what happens in the area now and in the future.