A Crowborough resident has told GB News he is “really worried” for his safety amid plans for illegal migrants to be housed in army barracks just 500 yards from his home.
Speaking to GB News National Reporter Jack Carson, Simon Brown revealed locals were “not consulted” by local authorities on the decision.
Stating that the camp had previously been deemed “unfit for purpose” for housing migrants, Mr Brown explained: “I think the phrase is very worried, to be honest.
“We were given assurances that the previous Government had looked at Crowborough training camp as a possible option for illegal immigrants. But after looking at it, they said that it wasn’t fit for purpose.
Crowborough resident Simon Brown has said he is ‘really worried’ about illegal migrants being housed in army barracks just 500 yards from his home
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PA / GB NEWS
“The camp has been here a long, long time, and they haven’t really invested a lot of money in it. It’s not secure.”
Asked by Jack if residents were consulted on the move, the homeowner said: “None whatsoever. Certainly not with us, certainly not with any of the neighbours that we socialise with. We’ve got a local WhatsApp group and there’s been nothing on there at all.
“And I think that’s why we are very worried, because they clearly haven’t done the due diligence in terms of speaking to residents or looking at the camp.”
Stressing how “insecure” the base is for housing migrants, Mr Brown told GB News: “It’s not a secure environment, it’s not a military base in the sense of a lot of places around the UK where there are security. There is no fencing, it’s quite an open area.
“It’s used by cadets, it’s used by school children during the summer months, and as far as I’m aware, it’s not a secure site.”
Expressing concern for the safety of both his family and the community, the resident feared a large number of undocumented men being housed at the bottom of his garden.
Mr Brown stated: “It’s the number, 600 I think is what they were quoting, and the fact that they are all going to be young.
“We’ve all seen the pictures and the videos of immigrants coming in on the beaches. They’re going to be younger males.
Mr Brown told GB News that the migrants would be housed 500 yards from his home
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GB NEWS
“And we’ve all seen the stories on television about crimes that have been committed around the country, and that’s really what that I’m worried about.”
He added: “I’ve got family here. I’ve got friends and family in the local area, and we just don’t know what these people are going to be like and how are they going to secure them?”
Criticising the move by Sir Keir Starmer as a “PR stunt”, Mr Brown said: “If we know that they’re going to be in there for a limited period of time, that they’re going to be secure, that they can’t wander off into the local town, then I’d feel a lot happier, but we’ve had no reassurance that that’s going to be the case.
“It’s not and never has been a military base. We’ve been living here for 22 years, it’s called a training camp, and it’s used for cadet forces, it’s not a secure army military base, and that is the problem.
“They clearly haven’t done their due diligence, and it smacks to me as a PR stunt.”
Mr Brown told GB News that he is ‘can’t even consider’ selling his home as ‘no one will buy it’
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GB NEWS
Noting that he was planning to sell his home and downsize, Mr Brown told GB News that he now “can’t even consider it” as Britons “clearly won’t buy this house” whilst illegal migrants are being housed close by.
He said: “We had a WhatsApp group going this morning, and that was the first thing I said to the neighbours because we were looking at downsizing.
“We’re both in our early 60s, and that’s clearly not something that we can do.
“Nobody is going to buy this house while there are going to be illegal immigrants housed literally 500 yards behind our house.”
Another local resident told GB News that she will have to “start locking her doors” and “not take the dog for a walk” amid fears for her safety.
An estimated 600 illegal migrants are to be housed in the training camp
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PA
She said of the plans: “I’m not happy. I think the rest of the residents here aren’t going to be happy.
“We don’t feel safe especially if we’ve got children but just anybody in general I wouldn’t probably feel safe.
“I think the rest of the houses that are for sale won’t be sold anymore, that’s a lot of properties that could be filled by families.
“Is there going to be any security? Are they allowed to be out? We haven’t been told you, and I feel like they’re right next door to us.
“We should’ve been told. Crowborough is quite a small place that we should’ve just been told in general. I’ll be locking my door definitely, for sure, I’ve never had to do that before.”
The local added: “I won’t be allowed to walk my dogs locally, my husband doesn’t want me to be doing that and actually he feels like we won’t be safe at all. I probably won’t even be going for just a general walk now.
“I don’t know what the safety measures are gonna be there so we just don’t feel safe. Had we known we were going to have 600 men in our back garden, we wouldn’t have bought this house.”
