A purpose-built centre for processing asylum claims on the Isle of Wight has been proposed by a public advocacy website promoting policy ideas associated with Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s ‘Burnham Project’.
The Burnham Programme has published a detailed proposal setting out how the Isle of Wight could be used to process asylum claims domestically rather than simply accommodate asylum seekers while decisions are made.
The website is a public advocacy platform concerning the wider ‘Burnham Project’ and policy ideas associated with Burnham’s administration. Commentary on the approach has highlighted a greater role for the state alongside regional devolution, investment in public infrastructure and an increased emphasis on social and affordable housing.
Under the asylum proposal, claims would be registered and considered at an Isle of Wight centre under UK law, with appeals taking place where permitted.
It advocates a maximum decision timeframe of 12 months for ordinary cases, arguing that simply moving asylum seekers to an island without speeding up decisions would recreate the problems associated with the asylum hotel system.
Rather than functioning primarily as accommodation, the proposed centre would be a purpose-built, land-based facility centred around processing claims, with caseworkers and legal advisers available.
The proposal points to the experience of the Bibby Stockholm barge at Portland, which it says exposed problems relating to cost, safety, occupancy, public consent and welfare.
According to the programme, an Isle of Wight facility would need to avoid those problems through purpose-built infrastructure, appropriate staffing, legal access, independent inspection and the publication of performance data.
Of particular relevance to Islanders is the potential pressure such a facility could place on existing local services.
Healthcare, policing, transport and legal advice are all specifically identified as areas which would require additional capacity and funding if a processing centre was established on the Isle of Wight.
The proposal calls for a separate funding settlement to cover those additional demands, warning that without one the Isle of Wight could be left bearing the local costs of a national immigration policy without national compensation.
It does not propose automatically detaining everyone passing through the centre. Instead, detention would be used only where lawful criteria were met, with identity, security, absconding risk and imminent removal identified as possible circumstances.
Detention would need to be regularly reviewed and accompanied by access to legal advice.
Cases which could not reasonably be completed within the proposed 12-month timeframe – including some involving complex trafficking issues, serious medical evidence or unusual conditions in a person’s country of origin – would instead leave the detained route and be dealt with through another process.
Crucially, publication of the proposal does not mean that an asylum processing centre on the Isle of Wight has been approved or is being developed by the UK Government.
The proposal does not identify a location on the Island, the number of asylum seekers who could be processed, an opening date or an agreed funding package.
Instead, it sets out how those behind the public advocacy website believe an Isle of Wight processing centre could operate and the legal, financial and operational safeguards they say would be required.
On Saturday, Island Echo reported that Reform UK councillors on the Isle of Wight have vowed to oppose attempts to use the Island for asylum accommodation after Mr Burnham said all parts of the country should ‘play their part’ in the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers.
