CROWN/2026/0000005 A Godbold
- Date submitted
- 4 August 2026
- Submitted by
- Interested party
As my previous submission has not been published on this list, I am submitting it again. Please find the full document attached as a PDF including supporting diagrams and images. I object wholeheartedly to the expansion of Haslar Immigration Removal Centre. I do not think you realise just how close neighbouring homes are and how much this proposal will detrimentally affect the lives of those living on the perimeter. Access is entirely unsuitable on Fort Road, directly adjacent and opposite residential homes. Noise pollution will be intolerable, there is no precedent for an IRC in a residential area quite as close as this and on such a scale. The noise generated by over 1000 people (600 detainees and 414 staff) will be significant, then add in the shift changeovers at 6,30am every day and late in the evening too, plus the HVAC and plant on the roofs, security gates, radio comms, detainees getting angry, car alarms, emergency alarms, car stereos, emergency vehicles, protests etc. Homes are on the perimeter and adjacent to the emergency access point, only a matter of metres from the accommodation blocks, dining hall and CASU. Legal frameworks guarantee a right to peace in your own home, this is protected under human rights laws. How will those living next to HIRC be protected against the noise and disturbance from this inappropriate expansion? Size and lack of precedent. There is no precedent for an IRC of this scale in this close proximity to homes. Despite claims from the home office that it will have no negative effect and that no other IRCs have reported issues, well of course they won't they are either in the middle of no where, or next to a huge airport or in an industrial estate. Fort Road is none of these, it used to be a quiet road at the end of a peninsular. The original iteration of the IRC was a quarter of the size, in single storey accommodation blocks well away from homes. This is the antithesis! Huge accommodation blocks, mere metres away from homes with no consideration for the well-being of those who live in the vicinity. In addition, the playingfields are a GREENFIELD site, this site has never been built upon. Local people have been treated with contempt and a conspiracy of silence. We have been blocked from being able to ask questions and all of the necessary information has been redacted. The contact information that you provide takes you through to people who cannot answer your questions and when eventually you are provided with an alternative contact, they refuse to reply. This must be investigated as it is not acceptable. A comprehensive CEMP must be in place for the construction phase, which must prioritise the safety and well being of neighbouring people. We have put up with years of hell during construction phase 1 with anitsocial behaviour from contractors, extreme early morning noise disturbance, intolerable dust without mitigation, complete lack of two way communication, property damage... the list goes on. Recognised standards require a working buffer of 15m or more for site access and heavy machinery. Given that the gates in Fort Road are 5m from the nearest property and 9m from those opposite, this access point cannot be used for the construction phase. Off road parking must be enforced for staff and contractors. It is not acceptable to inflict hundreds of extra cars on a quiet residential neighbourhood and all of the disruption that entails such as noise during the night and shift changeovers at antisocial times, never knowing if you are going to be blocked into or out of your own home, never being able to have your own visitors parking anywhere near your own home etc. You have carefully hidden within the drawings the fact that all of the mature trees will be felled. You also state that only 13 saplings will replace these. This is utterly unacceptable and the landscaping and planting must be a high priority to help mitigate the damage that has been caused to a previously significant and established habitat. By going ahead with this over development, on this scale and this close to homes, you will make our homes completely unsellable and we will become prisoners in our own homes. There are other IRC sites that are no where near any residential areas that could be expanded without impact upon a quiet and peaceful sea side community. WE LIVE JUST A FEW METRES FROM THE PERIMETER!