Thames Water says detainees at proposed accommodation should expect to experience insect swarms and strong smells
A Home Office plan to build asylum seeker detention facilities next to a sewage pump is facing objections after water company officials warned that detainees should expect to experience insect swarms and strong smells.
Proposed secure accommodation blocks at Campsfield House immigration removal centre in Oxfordshire will be 20 metres from a sewage pumping station, according to a written submission from Thames Water.
A senior development manager at the company wrote that it could give rise to “amenity effects, including odour, noise, vibration, lighting associated with maintenance activities, insects and flies” for any inhabitants. In a previous submission, the company wrote that any development may lead to sewage flooding.
The warnings, which come as the government hopes to expand the immigration detention estate by 40%, have been seized upon by campaigners against the expansion.
Ally Swadling, the lead legal education officer at the charity Right to Remain, said: “Thames Water’s concerns about sewage infrastructure at Campsfield show how little regard is being given to even the most basic standards of sanitation and human dignity.
“They reinforce what we already know – this government is putting its political priorities above people’s lives and wellbeing.”
