The government is back at it again, trying to look like they’ve got a plan while actually wasting massive amounts of public cash. The Home Office just dropped plans to seek planning permission for three more former military bases to house asylum seekers: MOD Bicester in Oxfordshire, RAF Barnham in Suffolk, and RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire. They’re looking to pack 3,750 people into these "basic" setups, and the communities affected are not having it.

On top of the three new spots, the government is extending the lease on their existing camps. They’re keeping the Crowborough site in East Sussex open until 2030, and the Wethersfield base in Essex is getting pushed past 2027. Not only that, they’re cramming another 400 guys into Wethersfield, bringing the total capacity up to 1,200 men. It’s the same old story: promising things are "temporary" to get them through the door, and then changing the rules once they’re set up.

But here’s the real kicker: this whole military camp setup is actually costing the taxpayers way more than the hotels they claim they’re trying to close down. Imran Hussain from the Refugee Council pointed out that the government's own spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, already ran the numbers and confirmed that barracks cost more money overall than hotels. It makes zero sense to spend more money just to isolate people miles away from towns, keeping them cut off from the real world.

In Bicester, the locals are asking why the government is trying to run back a play that already failed. They tried this exact same thing back in 2001, and it got shut down fast by protests, planning delays, and crazy costs. Calum Miller, the MP for Bicester and Woodstock, called the whole situation a "political fix" that doesn’t solve anything and just replaces one expensive mess with another without giving regular people any real answers.

Up in Linton-on-Ouse, the community is feeling completely betrayed. Nicola David from the Linton-on-Ouse Action Group said the news was a "real gut punch." Her group already fought the government’s plans back in 2022 and won, proving it was the "wrong plan, wrong place." Now, the government is trying to force the same bad plan back onto a tiny remote village that doesn't have the setup for it.

Down in East Sussex, the community isn't just complaining—they're taking it to court. Crowborough Shield CIC has launched a legal challenge against the Home Office over the Crowborough base. Kim Bailey from the group kept it 100, saying the official numbers prove the government's claims about military bases being cheaper are a total lie. The data shows these military camps are just a massive money pit.