The flags and banners outside RAF Barnham convey the strength of local feeling.
“No illegals now or ever” reads one. “Stop the boats. Stop the problem” and “Unvetted foreign men: we are afraid to walk our streets at night” on others outside the site.
This rural community in Suffolk has become the latest focal point of a problem that won’t go away: where to put thousands of migrants crossing the Channel on small boats.
In June, the Government confirmed it had earmarked this ex-RAF site to house as many as 1,250 single male asylum seekers in portacabins and existing accommodation blocks.
Two other bases, MoD Bicester in Oxfordshire, and MoD Linton-On-Ouse in North Yorkshire, are also being considered by the Home Office.
