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Date submitted

6 August 2026

Submitted by

Interested party

Here's the letter with all em dashes removed: Objection to Crown Development Application: Haslar Immigration Removal Centre, Gosport - Phase 2 Expansion I am a resident of Gosport writing to formally object to the proposed Phase 2 expansion of Haslar Immigration Removal Centre, which would increase capacity from around 130 to up to 600 beds. 1. Inadequate consultation period This application has been given a consultation window of only four weeks, compared with the six weeks allowed for the comparable Campsfield House expansion. Given the scale of the proposal, one of the largest immigration removal centres in Europe, this timeframe does not allow residents and stakeholders proper opportunity to review the plans and submit informed responses. 2. Use of the Crown Development route bypasses local scrutiny Previous applications for this site were submitted through the standard planning route to Gosport Borough Council. Routing this application through the Crown Development process instead removes decision-making from local councillors and the community who are best placed to assess the impact on the area. This lack of local scrutiny is inappropriate for a development of this scale and significance. 3. Unproven need The Home Office has not adequately demonstrated the need for 470 additional detention places specifically at this site. Before a development of this scale is approved, the underlying justification and alternatives should be transparently evidenced and open to challenge. 4. Site and safety constraints Haslar occupies a coastal, low-lying site with associated flood risk and constrained road access. An expansion to 600 detainees plus an estimated 450 staff raises serious concerns about emergency evacuation capacity, coastal flood safety, and the ability of the site and surrounding infrastructure to cope in an emergency. 5. Traffic, parking and local services The surrounding road network and local services in Gosport were not designed for a facility of this scale. The increase in staff, visitor, and supply traffic will place significant strain on local roads, parking, and services already under pressure. 6. Impact on heritage, ecology and open/greenfield land The site has historic significance as a former naval hospital and barracks, and the proposals involve new-build accommodation and demolition affecting open land, coastal access, and local ecology. These impacts have not been sufficiently addressed in the plans made public. 7. Impact on house prices in an already struggling local market Gosport's property market has already been under sustained downward pressure, and this expansion risks compounding that decline significantly. Homeowners near the site have already reported falls in property value of up to £25,000 since the current phase-one works and expansion plans became known, even before the site reaches anything close to its proposed 600-bed capacity. A development of this scale, immediately adjacent to residential streets, will make homes in the surrounding area harder to sell and further suppress values at a time when local residents can least afford it. This is a direct and material financial harm to residents that should be weighed heavily in any assessment of the application. 8. Disproportionate impact on residents' quality of life Neighbouring residents have already reported feeling like "prisoners in their own homes" amid disruption from works currently under way. An expansion to 600 beds, nearly triple the current phase-one capacity, would substantially worsen this impact on a residential area never designed to sit adjacent to a facility of this size. 9. Governance and oversight Given Haslar's documented history of poor conditions prior to its 2015 closure, a fivefold increase in capacity raises legitimate questions about whether adequate staffing, healthcare, and oversight arrangements can be assured before any expansion proceeds. For these reasons, as a directly affected resident, I object to the proposed Phase 2 expansion of Haslar Immigration Removal Centre and ask that the application be refused, or at minimum that the consultation period be extended and the application be required to go through the standard local planning process.