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Date submitted

6 August 2026

Submitted by

Interested party

I strongly object to the “Phase 2” expansion of the Haslar Immigration Removal Centre proposed at Crown Development Application CROWN/2026/0000005. As a local Gosport Borough Councillor, I was invited to attend the first public engagement event by the MoJ/Home Office. We were assured that the IRC operation would solely cater for male detainees whose asylum applications had been determined and rejected, and that all detainees would be repatriated directly from the HASLAR IRC. It is now clear that this will not be the case and its full capacity will be 600 detainees and there could be up to 8,000 detainees taken into the Haslar IRC each year with up to 50% of those released on bail into Gosport – taken from the latest MoJ fact sheet, and this application, makes clear that the IRC will provide transport to take those so released down to Gosport Ferry and then there is no regard to where these individuals would then go. Even if a small percentage choose to remain in Gosport, they will overwhelm not only Council resources, but also those of other local services and accommodation with a hugely detrimental effect on what is already recognised as an area of significant deprivation and is a Tier 1 Levelling Area. I disagree with the planning process being taken away from the Local Planning Authority and Councillors and passed to Crown Development who have no understanding of the local area to determine. This is made worse by the considerable amount of redaction in the application which severely constrains residents’ ability to make a proper assessment. If the process is not going to be called into disrepute, I firmly believe the decision process for the application should be considered through a public hearing which my wife and I would like to attend. The IRC centre of this size is not suitable for the location. It is located on the Haslar peninsula on Fort Road and can also be accessed via Haslar Road over a one-way bridge and Clayhall Road. There are other developments on the peninsula, Haslar Hospital development, Fort Gilkicker development, QinetiQ Alverstoke development and the Piggeries development. All these developments will put a heavy load on the local infrastructure, and the roads are not suitable. Phase 2 of the IRC would conflict with all the above and the Transport Assessment not only failed to consider the existing, and increasing, movements from these sites but also the future needs for the whole of the Haslar Regeneration Area. At the public engagement event we were told the maximum height of any building would be two storeys, we are now told they will be 3 storeys. This is a conservation area and in the Emerging Local Plan 2042, Section 6, Policy DE5, item 1a it states that development in conservation areas will be permitted provided that the location, form, scale, massing, density, height, layout, landscaping, use and external appearance conserves or enhances the character and appearance of the Conservation Area, including features of special architectural or historic interest. 1b states it conserves or enhances the setting of the Conservation Area and it's not detrimental to inward or outward views. Due to the number of heavily redacted documents, it is a hard application to follow and understand. Why did the documents need to be redacted? For the reasons I have stated above I believe the proposed scale of this Phase 2 development application is not consistent with Gosport Borough Council’s Emerged Local Plan 2042 and will have a detrimental effect on the much-needed regeneration of this significantly deprived area.