The Home Office overpaid for a former prison it wanted to house asylum seekers in and cut corners in the process, a report has revealed.
The quick £15.4 million acquisition of the HMP Northeye site near Bexhill saw the Home Office buy a contaminated site without assessing the potential scale of asbestos issues.
A report by the National Audit Office found that the purchase, which saw the Home Office facing remediation costs of up to £3.6 million, did not meet minimum standards.
The report from the NAO found the Home Office had looked to quickly buy the site to meet the Conservative government’s aim to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
The Home Office entered negotiations shortly after May 2022 before moving quickly to buy the site for £15.4 million.
The NAO said the Home Office “moved quickly and chose to dispense with established processes, including the requirement for a full business case before approving the purchase”.
The cost of remediation to repair the asbestos issues was also underestimated before the Home Office committed to the purchase.
During the purchase the Home Office also rejected offers of expert advice from other parts of government.
A key decision-making document also made limited reference to the potential scale of asbestos contamination on the site, leading to poor decisions.
The Home Office had initially intended to lease HMP Northeye but, in December 2022, decided to purchase it outright instead.
An appraisal in February 2023 highlighted a high risk of asbestos contamination – with repairs to the building costing the Home Office a “significant” amount.
Having bought the site, the Home Office concluded in May 2023 that HMP Northeye was unsuitable for housing asylum seekers.
The Home Office had intended to house single, adult male asylum seekers at the site.
Northeye was a category C prison from 1969 to 1992 and suffered a massive fire because of a riot in April 1986. Roofing which contained asbestos was set ablaze and there have been fears about site safety.
Residents, campaign groups and politicians including Rother District Council expressed concerns abouts the site's suitability shortly after the plans were made public.
Lou Calvey, director of asylum charity Asylum Matters, slammed the plans as “ill-thought”, adding: “Instead of working with communities to help people fleeing persecution rebuild their lives, the previous Government ignored warnings so it could indulge in waste and carelessness, putting cruel ideology above everything else - including value for the taxpayer.
“More than £15 million of public money was thrown away on a contaminated and dangerous site that should never have been under consideration.
“Our new Government must take the lesson from this fiasco, and immediately abandon plans to place people seeking safety in any large-scale site like this.”
The Home Office was approached for comment.
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