The government paid £15.3m for a derelict piece of land last month that was sold just over a year ago for £6.3m, it has emerged.
The brownfield site in Bexhill in East Sussex was previously used for Northeye prison and then for a training centre for students from the United Arab Emirates.
The Home Office is considering using the site as an immigration detention centre as part of its plans to accommodate asylum seekers as a prelude to mass deportation to Rwanda if that plan is given the green light by the courts.
The amount paid just one year after it was sold to the property development company Brockwell Group Bexhill LLP – an increase of almost 150% – has led to questions over why the government paid so much.
Nicola David, of the NGO One Life to Live, who has conducted research into the site, said: “There are many questions to be asked, to which the British public deserves answers.
“Why, only a year ago, did the prior owners pay less than half as much? Why did the government purchase new land when the crown estate already has many vacant sites? And why on earth does the government say on its Bexhill webpage that ‘no final decision has been taken to use the site?’”
Home Office sources declined to comment on why the government bought the site for £15.3m on 21 September, more than double the £6.3m paid for it in August 2022.
The Home Office initially floated the idea of the use of the site for non-detained accommodation for asylum seekers but more recently has said it is exploring the site for immigration detention purposes.
Rother district council and East Sussex county council said no planning applications had been received for the site in the last 12 to 24 months and that planning permission would be required for any change of use.
A spokesperson said: “The former Northeye prison site was granted planning permission for the change of use from a prison to student accommodation and further education training establishment in August 1993. The site is allocated for up to 160 new homes in the Development and Site Allocations Local Plan.”
Jeffrey Newnham, the leader of the Save Northeye campaign, who is mounting a legal challenge against Home Office use of the site, said: “There is no logical geographical reason why Northeye should ever have been bought by this government.”
He said the government should be asked how, at the taxpayers expense, it paid so much for a wholly inappropriate site, where the vendor made £9m profit.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to the removal of foreign criminals and those with no right to be in the UK. We are exploring the use of the Bexhill site for detention purposes and assessments are being undertaken to consider the feasibility. We are working with local stakeholders to ensure that any facility is delivered in a way which minimises the impact on the local community.”
