The Home Office has been criticised for “cutting corners” and making “poor decisions” when it paid £15 million for a derelict, asbestos-contaminated former prison in East Sussex, intended to house asylum seekers. The National Audit Office (NAO) reported that the decision to acquire the Northeye site, in an effort to reduce the use of hotels for asylum accommodation, was rushed and left critical due diligence incomplete.

The NAO revealed that the amount paid for Northeye in 2023 was more than double the £6.3 million that the previous owners, Brockwell Group Bexhill LLP, paid in 2022. The report found that “significant pressure” within the Home Office, following a pledge by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers, contributed to the hasty decision-making. The site was purchased without a full assessment, despite an environmental review identifying asbestos risks and “high risk” conditions.

In early 2023, a group of government officials, including Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden, approved the purchase, prioritizing speed over standard technical checks. An initial due diligence report estimated that repairs to make the site habitable would cost around £20 million, although this figure was omitted from advice given to ministers.

After the purchase, additional remediation costs were projected between £1.1 million and £3.6 million due to contamination. The plan to use the site for housing 1,200 to 1,400 non-detained asylum seekers was later changed, with officials deeming it unsuitable for the original purpose. As of today, no work has been done to make the site usable.

Dr. Kieran Mullen, Conservative MP for Bexhill and Battle, expressed his disappointment over the handling of the acquisition, stating it was “not fair” to his constituents. “I absolutely regret that we didn’t acquire this site in the best possible way,” he said, adding that he hopes lessons have been learned.

The NAO criticised the Home Office’s actions, stating, “This resulted in it purchasing a site that was unsuitable for [its] original purpose, and it paying more for it than it needed to.”

The Public Accounts Committee has announced a further inquiry into the acquisition. Its chairman, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, condemned the Home Office’s “rushed and misjudged decision-making,” noting that warnings about the site’s condition were overlooked.

A Home Office spokesperson responded to the NAO’s report, emphasising its commitment to ending the use of hotels for asylum accommodation and restoring order to the system. The current Labour government, however, has yet to make a decision on the future use of Northeye.

The NAO concluded that the benefits of the site acquisition remain uncertain, leaving open the question of whether the purchase was a sound investment.