Ministers have been criticised over plans to convert a historic sea fort into a processing centre for small boat migrants – less than a mile from what will be Britain’s largest immigration detention centre.
Residents of Gosport, near the proud naval city of Portsmouth, fear their town will become the ‘capital’ of the small boat crisis and face further violent protests like those seen in recent weeks.
Fort Blockhouse, which was built in the 19th century to guard the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, could be used as a reception centre as part of contingency proposals for dealing with small boats crossing the Channel into Hampshire.
Typically, small boats have sailed towards Kent, but smugglers have recently shifted tactics by launching vessels from Normandy towards Hampshire – a route that is both longer and more dangerous.
Protests broke out in Gosport on Tuesday after convicted criminal turned anti-migrant activist ‘Danny Tommo’ told his supporters that 50 small boat migrants were about to be brought ashore there.
To avoid the mob, Border Force boats rerouted the migrants to Dover. But violence broke out in Gosport, leading to six arrests, while three coaches waiting to pick up the asylum seekers required police escorts.
Gosport is already home to Haslar Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), which closed a decade ago but is set to reopen after an expansion that will allow it to house 600 foreign criminals and illegal migrants over three storeys.
Tensions over illegal migration are high in the local area, and nearby Portsmouth Lifeboat Station was recently forced to suspend operations after its volunteers suffered physical and online abuse.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, the Conservative MP for Gosport, said opening a new processing centre at Fort Blockhouse would serve to encourage more illegal migrants to come to Britain.
Fort Blockhouse, which was built in the 19th century to guard the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour, could be used as a reception centre for small boat migrants
Gosport is already home to Haslar Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), which closed a decade ago but is set to be reopened and enlarged to house 600 foreign criminals and illegal migrants
Protesters – some wearing masks – gathered in Gosport on Tuesday when small boat migrants were due to dock there
‘This week’s chaotic scenes reinforced the argument made by local police, council leaders, and me that Portsmouth Harbour is an inappropriate disembarkation spot for migrant boats,’ she told the Daily Mail.
‘Hopefully future Channel crossings towards our area will now be taken straight to Kent, with its existing processing infrastructure.
‘We don’t have appropriate facilities or transport infrastructure and opening up new sites here would simply incentivise more illegal boats to make this perilous journey from France.’
Local retiree Lesley Cox, 78, said she was ‘disgusted’ by the plans for Fort Blockhouse.
‘We weren’t told about Fort Blockhouse. It’s the secrecy of it all. Why is it not out in the open? I’ve lived in Gosport for 30 years and I’m most definitely seeing it become the UK capital for illegal migrants.
‘Immigration has always happened in the area and it’s not been a problem, but now it’s changing out of all proportion.
‘I have to think about my family and the impact it will have. My eldest son was in the Navy fighting for this country, and you think what for?
Cllr Zoe Huggins, the leader of Gosport Borough Council, has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to protest against the proposal.
She said the area has already seen a series of anti-immigration protests, including an incident on September 6 when 200 people gathered at nearby Eastney beach to confront 140 migrants being brought ashore from a packed dinghy.
‘We should learn from these events when considering potential locations and ensure that the characteristics and constraints of each site are properly understood and researched before decisions are made,’ she told Ms Mahmood.
Ms Huggins pointed out that Fort Blockhouse is located on a peninsula with only one route out, which would make it easy for protesters to block any coaches attempting to leave the site.
Hundreds of protesters clashed with police near Eastney beach in Portsmouth earlier this month after a dinghy carrying 140 asylum seekers was escorted to the shore
Migrants try to board a small boat off the beach of Equihen-Plage in northern France in a bid to cross the Channel
Across town, near Haslar IRC, residents complain that their lives have been made ‘hell’ by two years of ‘constant’ building work beginning in the early hours of the morning.
It is being refurbished after shutting down in 2015 following a parliamentary review, which highlighted immigration detention as ‘expensive and damaging to detainees’.
The newly expanded facility will have 600 beds for detained men, who will be unable to leave the centre or access the local area.
Vick, a local resident and member of the armed forces, who did not want to give her surname, said the IRC expansion and fort conversion could lead to further unrest in the local area.
She said: ‘I’m not against the IRC being used in its current capacity. It’s good for job opportunities in Gosport. But the additional 600 I don’t agree with.
‘I’m worried about the number of migrants in the area attracting trouble – not just because of them but also the so-called “patriots” it’s been attracting.
‘They were up and down the street the other night when that small boat was brought in from the Channel.’
Colin, another armed forces member, said: ‘If I’m honest I’d prefer it’s all down there at the fort rather than spread between there and the IRC.
‘It’s going to cost so much to refurbish them both when costs for redoing sites is already astronomical for the MOD.’
Amid growing concerns over Labour’s response to the small boat crisis, this week has seen two dinghies reach UK shores without being intercepted by Border Force.
The deepening crisis in the Channel saw 781 migrants arrive on Wednesday – the highest daily tally this year.
With a further 44 arrivals on Thursday, it pushed the total since the 2024 general election to 83,323 – passing the British Army’s 83,000 soldiers, said Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp.
The figures will be embarrassing for Ms Mahmood, who claimed on September 2: ‘We are boosting officer numbers to record highs to crack down on small-boat launches and the gangs behind them. This work is bearing fruit.’
Danny Tommo, real name Daniel Thomas, was denied bail on Friday having pleaded not guilty to criminal damage after he was filmed allegedly using a knife to slash a dinghy used by migrants to cross the Channel to Britain.
The 37-year-old also pleaded not guilty to failing to disclose the PIN for his mobile phone to police, contrary to Section 53 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
Thomas appeared at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning, with Tommy Robinson attending to support his friend.
A Government spokesman said: ‘The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border and will continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.’
