Stanwell Hotel

Spelthorne Borough Council Leader, Cllr Joanne Sexton, has today called on the Home Office to extend the Government’s newly announced approach for housing asylum seekers to include those currently accommodated in the Stanwell Hotel.

The Government on 28 October confirmed that two military sites - Cameron Barracks in Inverness and the Crowborough Army Training Camp in East Sussex, have been earmarked for use as asylum seeker accommodation. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to identify and prepare appropriate military sites, with migrants due to be housed there by the end of next month.

Responding to the announcement, the Leader of Spelthorne Borough Council said, “Cllr Jon Button and I met with the Home Office back in August, during which I urged them to consider accommodating asylum seekers in available military barracks. I am delighted this proposal appears to have been taken on board, and I sincerely hope that, following the Prime Minister’s announcement, this will now come to fruition.

"I will be writing to ministers and will be asking them to assure that this solution will hasten the transfer of the current cohort and the closure of Stanwell Hotel as an asylum seeker centre. The residents of our community deserve clarity, and the asylum seekers deserve suitable accommodation.”

The Council has consistently expressed concerns regarding the continued use of the Stanwell Hotel as temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, citing the unsuitability of the site and the impact on the local area.