A United Kingdom government plan to house up to 300 male asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in Inverness has been abandoned, according to Highland MP Angus MacDonald. The UK Border Security Minister Alex Norris informed MacDonald that the scheme, initially intended to utilize the barracks for 12 months starting in early December, has been dropped.
The proposal was part of a broader government initiative to close hotels used for asylum accommodation. The plan to use Cameron Barracks had faced significant opposition from local residents and military families connected to the site, as well as support campaigns.
MacDonald stated that the decision reflects the strong feelings expressed by the community. "This is the right outcome, and it is a result of the strength of feeling shown by residents, and by the military families connected to Cameron Barracks who made their concerns heard from the very start," he said. He also noted local sentiment that the barracks' location, too close to the city center, schools, and residential neighborhoods, was unsuitable.
"There was also a strong local feeling that the site itself was simply too close to the city centre, schools and residential areas," MacDonald added. "The sense of closing asylum hotels in town centres in the South of England while opening an Inverness asylum barracks similarly poorly located defied logic."
The Home Office had originally aimed to move asylum seekers into the barracks by early December, but the plans encountered delays. The government's drive to move asylum seekers out of hotels has led to campaigns both in support of and in opposition to such proposals across the UK.
