THE Home Office is planning to seek a further six months consent to enable it to use Penally Camp for asylum seekers.
Pembrokeshire County Council gave the news to representatives of Penally Community Council and Tenby Town Council in a virtual meeting this evening, Wednesday February 10.
The authority expressed its disappointment at the Home Office's late expression of intention for extended use of the camp, which they described as 'unsettling'.
Only last month, immigration minister Chris Philp said that it was intended to move all the residents of the camp into 'suitable dispersed accommodation as soon as reasonably practical'
The current six months permission for use - granted under the Town and Country Planning General Permitted Development Order - expires on March 21, but application for the next consent is not due to be submitted until mid April.
This could technically allow the council to take enforcement action, but the authority has not yet confirmed its stance on this.
A statement after the meeting said:
"The Home Office has recently re-confirmed to the council that they are preparing a planning application to allow the temporary use of Penally Training Camp to continue for a further six months (beyond 21st March 2021).
"However, the Home Office have now made it clear that any planning application will not be submitted to Pembrokeshire County Council until around mid-April 2021.
"The Home Office advise that their appointed consultants are working to complete the majority of the technical reports, including a Phase 1 Ecological Survey, Noise Assessment, Heritage Report, Transport Report and Flood Risk Assessment.
"The Home Office have advised that they will begin the required pre application consultation, a formal 28-day period for public consultation process, in mid-March. Following the consultation period, the responses will be collated and the Pre-Application Consultation (PAC) Report prepared.
"This means that the site will therefore be under occupation, but without the requisite planning consents being in place, whilst the application process is followed.
"The council have been in continual contact with the Home Office and their planning consultant over the last five months, seeking clarification around their planning intention. This recent correspondence confirms their intention to progress a planning application.
"We are disappointed that the Home Office have only now made their intent clear. It is of concern that they have not been able to submit a planning application within the required timescale.
"The council has always challenged the Home Office as to the suitability of the accommodation. We have also always tried to work with key bodies involved to ensure those in the camp and the surrounding community are kept safe, treated with dignity.
"We acknowledge this latest update is unsettling and we will continue to work to ensure community cohesion can be restored following this disruptive decision.".
Despite a statement from the Welsh Government that there had been no consultation prior to the arrival of the asylum seekers at Penally in September, Home Secretary Priti Patel said in Parliament this week: "We consult with everybody."
This led to an angry retort from Plaid Cymru's leader in Westminster, Liz Saville-Roberts, who said: "“It is high time the Home Secretary takes responsibility for the abject failure in Penally and urgently finds safe and suitable accommodation for those inside.”
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