Staff recruitment starts for migrant removal centre
BBCStaff recruitment has begun ahead of the planned opening of an immigration removal centre.
The Haslar Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in Gosport is currently being redeveloped to house up to 130 migrants with no lawful right to remain in the UK before they are deported.
A planning inquiry into plans to expand the centre further, creating a total of 600 beds, is due to begin next month. The government has said the expansion is "critical to strengthen detention capacity".
The government has advertised for seven detention engagement officers at the centre.
The existing centre, which closed in 2015, is currently being redeveloped under plans announced by the Conservative government in 2022.
Earlier this year the current government announced plans for an additional 470 beds at the site, beyond initial plans for 130.
The extra accommodation would be in new buildings on adjoining seafront land owned by the Home Office.
The Planning Inspectorate last month confirmed a full planning inquiry would begin on 17 November.
Almost 500 comments have been received about the planning application, the majority of which oppose the expansion.
Gosport MP Dame Caroline Dinenage said: "Residents have already put up with two years of disturbance from the dust and the mess and the noise from regenerating the old immigration centre.
"They are absolutely paralysed with fear and anger at the possibility having to go through that for another few years."
The MP has previously written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood urging the government to provide greater transparency over proposals for the centre.
In August, a letter agreed by a full meeting of Gosport Borough Council set out concerns about democratic accountability, the impact on residents and the need for meaningful engagement about the redevelopment.
Leader of the Conservative-run council, Zoe Huggins has also raised concerns about potential pressures on local health services, with the centre only providing primary health care for detainees.
"If people need emergency medical care, ambulance services - they will actually be demand from local infrastructure. Gosport does not have an ambulance station and so again we build on that infrastructure question," she said.
The expansion has also been opposed by local anti-racism campaigners.
Mike Brown from the No Detention No Haslar campaign said: "We support immigration, we support international law. We do not support the detention of people who are clearly not refugees."
The detention centre is close to the former military site at Fort Blockhouse, where 150 migrants on a dinghy from Normandy were brought ashore earlier this month, sparking protests.
Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Dinenage said they had been landed "against the will of local people" and warned people smugglers had set-up a "viable new route" to the Hampshire coast.
In reply, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: "We will be relentless in changing [our tactics] to make sure they do not succeed.
"It's precisely because we are are succeeding in reducing the number of boat crossings that they are having to try different routes."
A Planning Inspectorate spokesperson said an inquiry into the additional Haslar IRC expansion was necessary because the application had generated "considerable local interest" and because "some of the issues raised are complex and the evidence would benefit from formal cross-examination".
Following the announcement of the planning inquiry, the Home Office said it remained confident in the strength of its application.
A spokesperson added: "All Crown Development planning applications require extensive engagement, and a public inquiry of this kind is a standard part of the process.
"We encourage residents and stakeholders to share their views through the formal process.
"Since the election we have returned or deported over 80,000 individuals, including 11,733 foreign national offenders, and these investments are essential to continue ramping up these removals."