The Labour government has once again made a decision with an immediate and lasting impact on Crowborough – without discussion, without warning, and without a moment’s thought for the community it affects. We refuse to stay quiet and let this town be divided for another four years by a crisis the government created.
The Labour government’s announcement that it intends to keep the Army Training Camp open until at least 2030 came as no surprise to those of us who had been watching closely – court papers had already revealed its intentions. But the manner of delivery, with the Town Council informed only at the close of the previous day and no statement made to the House of Commons, compounded a contempt for this community that residents had been describing to me since my election. When meeting the people of our hometown, that contempt was the note residents kept returning to.
Since the May elections, along with my fellow Crowborough Councillor, Catherine Fielding, I have been working to build a full picture of responsibilities, past actions, and what accountability mechanisms actually exist – including on public health and the duties of different agencies. Some of that information requires the cooperation of council officers, which I am actively pursuing. What the public record already shows is damning enough.
A veil of secrecy – and a government minister who does not want to put things right
Let me be plain about what happened. The community was told, in clear and unequivocal terms, that the camp would operate for no more than twelve months. Crowborough Town Council says it was informed of the 2030 plan only at the end of the day before the public announcement, leaving almost no time to consider the impact on residents. That is not consultation. It is not even common courtesy. The Leader of East Sussex County Council, Andy Woolley, has put it plainly: “a profound and controversial change was forced upon a community that was given no voice, no notice and no say.”
On 9 June, the Home Affairs Select Committee called the minister and the private accommodation contractor that runs the site to give evidence in Parliament. Pressed on the handling of Crowborough, the minister conceded that the government “didn’t get everything right” – a remarkable admission, and a considerable understatement. The same shortage of straight answers that residents have met for months was on display in Parliament itself.
The contractor and the minister could not even provide clarity on costs or how those compare to the use of asylum hotels. What we did get was that the Crowborough site has cost £7M to date of which £4M has gone to the contractor. The average cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels is £144 per night. The minister suggested the camp figure could fall to £135 when the site reaches full capacity. Even on that optimistic projection, the camp barely undercuts the hotels it is meant to replace – and that is before the cost of converting the site is included. Does this sound like good value for the taxpayer?
Residents here are grateful to Dame Karen Bradley, Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, for the persistent scrutiny her committee has applied. On 26 June she wrote again to the minister, raising serious concerns that the announcement of the 2030 extension was made with no statement to the House of Commons, and demanding answers about what steps were taken to consult local communities.
A community pulled apart
Crowborough was always a friendly town, where people lived quiet, ordinary lives in harmony with their neighbours. The presence of the camp, and in particular the lack of openness and transparency by the Home Office, has allowed misinformation and division to proliferate.
What is unforgivable is what this has done to our children. Our Armed Forces’ cadets were turned out of a base they had used for generations, just at a time when the world is becoming more dangerous. Children whose lives were disrupted by COVID have had their confidence, independence and sense of security unsettled – whether the risks are real or perceived. That matters. Children’s wellbeing should be at the centre of decisions like this one, not an afterthought.
The burden of dealing with frightened and angry residents has fallen particularly hard on Crowborough Town Council, which is responsible for none of this and has no power to change it. The Town Hall has been overwhelmed. I have offered the Town Council my full support, as has the Leader of East Sussex County Council, Andy Woolley, whom the Mayor approached directly. I want every resident to hear this clearly: your town council, your district council, and your county council did not make this decision. We are not the target of your anger, and we do not deserve to be. The Labour government made this choice and must answer for it.
To those who point to the protest marches as the cause of tension: I would ask you to look again. Those marches are a symptom, not a cause. They are what happens when a government refuses to consult, refuses to communicate openly, and refuses to consider the needs of the people it is supposed to serve. The anger in this town did not come from nowhere. It was created by repeated failures of transparency – and those failures belong to the Labour government, not to the residents of Crowborough.
The spectacle of local people being openly hostile to one another is sickening and unnecessary. This community deserves better – and the responsibility for repairing it lies squarely with those who broke it.
Catherine and I are here to listen to every resident who wishes to engage with these issues respectfully. I would urge councillors of all parties and all levels of local government to do the same. The disagreement in this town is real, and it is painful. But the people we should be disagreeing with are in Westminster – not in the house next door.
A legal challenge that should not be necessary
We should not have to take our own government to court to find out the truth about a decision affecting our town. And yet that is precisely what the residents’ group Crowborough Shield is doing. Its judicial review of the decision has been granted permission to proceed, with a hearing expected on 21st July.
If you are able to support Crowborough Shield’s legal fund, please do so. A community group should not need to crowdfund its way to basic accountability. But given the Labour government’s consistent refusal to be transparent with this town, it has been left with no other route.
What I am calling for
The Labour government must come to Crowborough and face its residents directly. It must publish a full and honest account of costs – not a selective figure designed to justify a decision already made. It must run this site as a secure, closed facility rather than the open arrangement that currently exists. And it must set out a credible plan for ending the use of this site entirely – not a rolling extension dressed up as temporary.
Crowborough was promised the truth and is still waiting for it. We were promised twelve months and handed the best part of half a decade. This community’s anger is not aimed at the wrong people. It is aimed squarely at a Labour government that has treated this town as somewhere to park a problem, while those responsible look the other way. I will not let that stand.
Sarah Jury,
Reform UK, East Sussex County Councillor for Crowborough South and St Johns Division
July 2026
