Gosport: Haslar Immigration Removal Centre rebuild moves ahead but delays slammed
The ongoing work to reopen Haslar Immigration Removal Centre has overcome its latest stumbling block, but Gosport’s council leader has challenged a Home Office official on why the project is taking so long.
Gosport Borough Council’s regulatory board on June 4 green-lit the Home Office’s plans to install an electricity substation, back-up generator and flood defences to power the Haslar Immigration Removal Centre.
Works are ongoing to refurbish the site to bring it up to standard after it closed in 2015, but an unexpected announcement in 2022 revealed it was to be revamped.
The first phase will see 130 beds created in the refurbished accommodation, with a second phase to follow, creating an additional 600 beds in the future to allow higher levels of enforcement and returns for those who have had their claim for asylum rejected.
Proposed are three single-storey buildings at the 2 Dolphin Road site next to the Fort Road. They will house generators, an electrical plant and a substation together with the creation of gated vehicle access, a flood barrier, along with new and replacement internal fencing.
Alan Tait from the Home Office said: “The proposed energy centre development is essential for the re-opening and the operation of the refurbished IRC.
“It will have a crucial role in enabling the removal of individuals who have no right to be in the UK. The site will help to increase the return rate. It is working on providing safe and secure, sustainable accommodation for 130 detained residents. The site has been designed to modern standards.”Sitting in on the board, council leader Councillor Peter Chegwyn (Lib Dem, Forton) said: “Surely you must have known you would always need power?
“You have had many planning permissions and works have been going on and on and on for many years now, spending millions at the taxpayers’ expense. Given you have all these permissions, why are you only bringing this application forward now when it could have come before us years ago?”
Mr Tait said: “That’s a fair challenge.”
He explained that at the start, it was thought bringing the building back to life would be “straightforward and simple”. But all the plants and electricity had to be ripped out, along with RACC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) and asbestos being removed from the site.
He said in order to keep the heritage of the site, bring it back to life and make it sustainable, with solar panels, heat pumps, etc, it was concluded more energy would be needed. So a whole new mechanical and plumbing system that was electrical was needed to make the site sustainable for the next 25 years.
Cllr Chegwyn said: ”Should it not have been demolished and started again? No one will ever tell us how much it has cost but no doubt tens of millions of pounds. You have been working on it for four or five years and we still do not have an opening date yet?”
Mr Tait said: “I would love to be able to share a date with you, we are making progress and as soon as certain things are in place such as signed supplier contracts, I will confirm a date.” Committee chair Councillor Richard Earle (Lib Dem, Elson) said the questions were not planning business and returned to the application.
Agent Mark Jackson said the flood barrier is essential to protect the energy centre supplying electricity. The proposal removed all use of gas from the site. The back-up generator will be tested monthly and the substation yearly, he said.
The decision notice said there will be a 1.6m high flood defence wall built around the site perimeter, with the inclusion of a flood-proof door. Vulnerable equipment will be set a minimum of 300mm above floor level to protect against a 1 in 200-year climate change flood event.
The board voted unanimously to approve application 24/00382/FULL.