CROWN/2026/0000005 Graham Phillips
- Date submitted
- 3 August 2026
- Submitted by
- Interested party
Outline Planning application IRC Haslar Phase 2. Material Considerations and Objections. • Photo 1 General overview of the IRC site. Taken on the 29th July 2026 to give real context as the Cushman & Wakefield one on Page 29 6.4 is very old, blurry and indistinct. • PHASE TWO OUTLINE APPLICATION. Increasing inmate capacity from 130 to 600, plus circa 450 staff plus visitors and deliveries, operating 24/7 is, and always will be a gross over exploitation of a site that since its first inception 225 years ago has never accommodated more than circa 180 in total. It is located, right at the end of the Gosport and Haslar double peninsula and in a heavily built up residential area with limited road access. Ask anyone who lives in the Gosport area what the biggest drawback is and they will tell you road access and congestion. • BLIGHTED LIVES AND HOMES: Since the commencement of Phase 1 on the 23rd August 2024 which is scheduled to continue until July 2027 (3 years) we have been subjected to vastly increased traffic of all kinds, noise (relentless bleep, bleep, bleep, from the heavy plant, 8 to 9 hours a day), dust, mud, noise and general disruption including up to February 2026 parking wars with circa 180 contractors vying for every road parking space closest to the site. This has resulted in dangerous road situations, partially blocked drives limiting access, littering and on occasions abusive behaviour. This being a measure of the total, detached, contempt towards the local residents shown by the Home Office since they returned to Gosport after a 10 year absence. They must have known the chaos they were going to cause locally by not providing even 1 in house parking area but they carried on anyway. It is against this background of the blighting of our day to day lives and homes during the last two years that provides the foundation for objection to Phase 2 which if approved will subject us all in the area to at least two more years of the same or worse, post completion of phase 1, as the construction will be literally 10’ from our back fences. How would the Home Office █████████ like it if they were subjected to 5 years of breathing in this dust laden air, their day to day lives and homes blighted. Would the human rights lawyers allow the inmates of the IRC to be abused in such a way over such a prolonged period? • As just one example of many, see attached photograph 2 of a duster used on my dining room table on Saturday the 18th July 2026. The accumulated dirt shown was just one sweep of the duster. Every flat surface where there was a through draft was similar. It took 3 days to clean the house, outside windows and white work and the construction of phase two will be very, very much closer and the fallout much worse. GBC Environmental Health have the full details from many complainants spanning two years (SO FAR) with a minimum 3 more years to come. Cushman & Wakefield refer themselves to lead contamination in the soil ( Page 45 6.118 refers). But still the clouds of dust come our way. • Communication from the Home Office Communication has been virtually non- existent, and they actively discourage the main contractors from engaging with residents. Promises of a hotline, designated email address and contact details of official’s that were promised at the 10th October 2025 Home office presentation came to nothing. At the same meeting the Home Office proudly boasted that they had removed 817 tonnes of asbestos (SO FAR) from the site. Not a word was mentioned to the residents before or during that process. See enclosed photograph 3 of my Conservatory windows taken in August 2025, clouds of dust pushed along by an easterly wind from the IRC site, ongoing throughout the summer. What was in that dust? • The Crown Development application The Planning inspectorate outline submission that we are invited to comment on has been heavily redacted in many areas, withholding vital information and the format in which it is presented appears to be intentionally difficult, if not impossible for the lay person to wade through and interpret. An additional reader friendly, simplified, shortened version, un-redacted, open and transparent with a more realistic time frame allowed for objections should be provided. At a meeting of the regulatory Board at Gosport Borough Council on the 29th July 2026 both Officers and Councillors raised the issue of redactions and confirmed the local planning Officers inability to comment adequately because of “Redactions”. It was stated the Home Office had been requested to supply an un-redacted version which they had agreed to do but as of the 29th July no such copy had been provided, with only 8 days left before comments /objections were to be received. I would say this was very typical of the Home Office’s general attitude to everyone locally. Arrogant, detached and dismissive. • Phase 2 Accommodation block size from two stories to three. The proposed road access to Phase 2 via Fort Road through the Boatyard/ storage area has never been an ‘official’ entry point but an ‘Emergency’ one only, being just a few metres from residents homes. Access for heavy plant/machinery/material deliveries etc would be unimaginably detrimental to those residents living alongside and directly opposite. ( See photo 3) The proposed rectangular blocks themselves are totally out of harmony architecturally to the remainder of the site and surrounding residential area. It also raises serious concerns for many whose gardens and back windows will be overlooked and visible to inmates, many of whom will be convicted alien criminals. Then there is the question of noise from the roof top machinery (ventilation/ Heating and Air con) and light pollution just a few metres from local’s properties. Once again highlighting the basic issue. Gross over development and in the wrong place. Cushman and Wakefield in their planning statement state “that there will be no long term significant adverse effects arising as a result of the proposed development……. apart from a major/moderate adverse effect for the limited dwellings on the south eastern side of Fort Road backing onto the site” (Page 37 6.41 refers). Total contradiction. For information, the number of properties backing onto the site is 11 ████████████████. This is typical of Cushman & Wakefields report throughout. Glossing over uncomfortable truths that their paymasters at the Home Office would like buried. There is also a concern that by reducing the overall foot print by increasing the height of the blocks from 2 to 3 storey’s it could open the way for a future development of IRC Phase 3. The sale of the Haslar Sea Wall Carpark by GBC has removed any control over future development and has opened the way for Phase 2 itself. The possibility of a Phase 3 was mentioned publicly as an aside remark by an elected Councillor at a full meeting of Gosport Borough Council on Wednesday the 15th July 2026. • Mental and Physical well-being of locals. At no point during the build of Phase 1 has the health and Wellbeing of local people been taken into consideration or indeed even mentioned. Continual blighting of daily lives during demolition/construction of Phase 1, large numbers of Heavy Lorries contractor plant and the relentless bleep, bleep, bleep of their forklifts and plant spanning three years with a further 2 years to follow for Phase 2, breathing dust laden air, has and will have multiple adverse effects on local’s wellbeing. I know of two individuals who are already suffering the consequences and this can only get worse spanning the full five year total construction phase. Then there is the anxiety factor of the as yet unknown consequences of living in such close proximity to 600 ████████detained Males. Very relevant to women living on their own. It is a disgrace the way we have been treated. We appear to be ‘invisible’ to the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Government and our local Council. Everybody else matters and is catered for in Cushman & Wakefields submission, even plants and reptiles, Brent Geese etc. Everyone gets a mention except the Human locals. These ██████████ will have 24/7 access to Doctors, Dentists, legal services, Health and wellbeing services, while we struggle to get a Doctor or Dentist appointment. There doesn’t seem to be a section covering that in Cushman and Wakefield’s 48 page masterclass in cut and paste. • Contractor parking during Phase 2. Phase 2 will be commenced after the IRC has become fully functional in June/July 2027. (Cushman & Wakefield don’t seem to know when it’s going to open as throughout their report its 2027 and then on the very last page of the appendix section its “Autumn 2026”). Circa 130 staff, 130 inmates, visitors, deliveries etc. In addition there will be according to Cushman & Wakefiled 491 (note the number ‘1’, they don’t have a clue!) construction workers, heavy plant/ machinery, diggers and bulldozers, building material deliveries on a grand scale and open field storage in what was the old playing fields. They state the only vehicular access to the Phase 2 construction site will be via Fort Road through what is known as The Boatyard IN ITSELF WOEFULLY INADEQUATE AND INAPPROPRIATE (see enclosed Photograph 4 & 5). If the Haslar sea wall car park has been developed there will be 259 spaces plus circa 40 in Dolphin Way. Total 299 spaces. Working IRC will need circa 100 spaces to allow for staff/ visitors etc, plus 491 contactors. 591 spaces required during day time working hours. WHERE ARE THE OTHER 290 ODD GOING TO PARK IN A HEAVILY BUILT UP RESIDENTAIL AREA? Yet another matter totally ignored by Cushman & Wakefield. And if the Haslar Sea Wall car Park has not been developed………. It doesn’t bear even thinking about! • Redevelopment of Haslar Sea Wall Car Park. This in itself will be a major re development, and should be the subject of a separate planning application, as in practice it is a separate site from the main IRC. Despite Cushman & Wakefield’s assertions to the contrary (as an example see page 7 3.1) IRC Haslar has never had a designated off street car Park other than roadside parking in Dolphin Way. The development of 279 bays will impact very greatly those residents to the south west of the main IRC, both during construction and thereafter for all the reasons previously mentioned for Phases 1 and 2, plus 24/7, 365 days / year access for 259 vehicles, intrusive site lighting, security fencing, surveillance cameras and traffic noise. In total circa 300 car parking spaces, including Dolphin way are said to be provided. Staff numbers circa 414 split between 3 shifts (far more during the day) plus visitors, there is no mention of how over spill onto Fort Road and surrounds can be stopped, just as before with the Phase 1 ‘Nightmare’ contractor parking situation we faced throughout 2025. In addition there is no legally enforceable compulsion on any staff, visitor or contractors to use the re-developed IRC car Park at all. And this feeds directly back to the earlier statements regarding the gross over development of the site, which is in the wrong geographical situation for such a large centre. • Demonstrations. In past times these were small and infrequent; increasing the capacity to 600 will significantly increase the profile of IRC Haslar and will no doubt ‘attract’ far greater numbers both for and against. Once again impacting the local residential area in a very negative manner and further blighting the area in general. As I write there is one planned for Sunday the 2nd August 2026. Local residents should not be subjected to this along with everything else already mentioned. WRONG SIZE FACILITY IN THE WRONG PLACE. • Housing Blight Locally (REAL WORLD REALITY). This submission is not about the principle of an IRC just over my back fence. It was a functioning IRC when I came here 18 years ago. It is about the quantum. 600 inmates plus 414 employees, plus deliveries, plus visitors. I visited the Home Office presentation in October 2025, detailing their total control of the Haslar Road Car Park and thereby confirming Phase 2, I decided to place my home on the market. 9 months later, 30 viewings, and a £50k reduction from the original valuation (already reduced by circa £50k due to the proximity to the redeveloping IRC), a sale is no further forward than on day one and my agent informs me that “99% of people will not buy your home”. I am now essentially imprisoned myself and arguably in a worse situation than the inmates that will be detained in IRC Haslar, they at least have the prospect of an “out” via deportation. I can see no reason why it should be any different for all the other properties circa 35 in very close proximity to IRC Haslar and surrounding area. • The Home Office seem to have unlimited funds to house the future detainees of IRC Haslar in the most up to date accommodation and with the provision of the very best onsite resources imaginable. If Phase 2 is permitted I would request the Home Office redirect some of that unlimited resource by establishing a scheme to acquire at current market value the homes of locals that this proposed development will PERMANENTLY blight both during construction of Phase 2 and thereafter. SUMMARY. Real Life consequences of Phase 2 for locals and a very far cry from Cushman and Wakefield’s biased, fantasy world report where they would have you believe we are all skipping hand in Hand through sun drenched Meadows singing hallelujah to the IRC and Home Office. Phase 1. 3 years of demolition, construction, van parking wars, cone wars, dust, dirt, noise, littering confrontations with Contractors contributing to the blighting of our everyday lives and homes. 2 years have been endured so far with 1 more to go. Phase 2. An additional 2 more years of the same. That’s a 5 year construction period in total, all happening metres from our boundaries and in a very confined residential area. In addition there will be a fully operating IRC throughout phase 2 construction, adding to the general mayhem. And if that’s not enough for everyone, we can throw in a development of a 279 bay car park, complete with full security fencing, intrusive lighting and surveillance, on land that was supposed to be a public amenity area for the benefit of all Gosports residents, visitors and wildlife alike, until that is, Gosport Borough Council sold it off to the Home Office, thereby giving the green light to Phase 2. Beyond all of that we have the unknown consequences of living with a 600 bed IRC, plus circa 414 staff plus deliveries and visitors operating 365 days a year 24/7 I have lived and worked in the Borough for 75 years and this is what I and my fellow neighbours are rewarded with. Shame on them all! ███████████████ Photo 1. General Overview Photo 2 Duster and Photo 3 Conservatory Photo 4 Aerial view of Boatyard showing close proximity to houses Photo 5 Vehicle Access through Boatyard from Fort Road showing close proximity to houses on right hand side I should like to attend a hearing