RESIDENTS of a small rural village in Essex watch in horror as dozens of white minibuses drive slowly past their living room windows.
But these aren't tour buses visiting the sleepy, countryside parish of Wethersfield in Braintree – they are shuttle buses taking hundreds of asylum seekers to the shops nearby up to three times a day.
This is because just meters away, 508 adult male migrants – aged between 18 and 65 – are housed at former airbase RAF Wethersfield.
These men – many of whom arrived in the UK on – are ferried on a taxpayer-funded fleet of minibuses, while residents claim they are trapped in their homes.
Jeff Temperley, a 54-year-old builder who lives next to the centre, says: “It’s not safe for children to go for a walk round here…we are all worried about these men wandering around unsupervised and free to do what they want.
“It’s become really dangerous.”
It's a marked sign of the segregation that has flourished between the two communities – those who have lived here for decades and their newcomer neighbours, with tensions between the groups reaching crisis point.
Worried homeowners near the site say the camp has had a seriously negative effect on values and some would-be sellers say they face losses of thousands of pounds – though there is no concrete evidence to back up these claims.
Female residents also claim to feel scared by the sheer number of men now walking the streets – yet statistics show the crime rate has not increased since the migrant centre was opened.
Reports of sexual and violent attacks in the area peaked at 119 per month in October 2022 – several months before migrants moved to the area.
Yet in the months since they arrived in July 2023, the number of offences reported per month has gone down to just 75.8.
The Government took over the former military training base as an emergency holding centre in 2023 as asylum claims in Britain .
Locals assumed the housing of so many migrants (the village only had an estimated population of 707 people before the centre was open) would be temporary.
But in April 2024, the Home Office extended the use of the asylum centre for another three years and limited its size to 800 users with a 420 ‘surge' capacity.
News of the decision came as a hard-knock to residents who had been voicing their worries about being outnumbered by unemployed migrants since their initial arrival.
A spokesperson for the Government department confirmed to Flying Eze it is increasing capacity at Wethersfield in the short term as part of an effort to reduce the use of taxpayers' money on “expensive asylum hotels”.
“Open-prison camp”
Jeff lives next door to his parents, Alan and Melody, just yards from the camp fence.
He told Flying Eze: “We are trapped here and our homes have been made worthless.
“No one wants to live next door to a prison establishment. The men there are free to come and go and wander around the village – and they even get taxis into local towns.”
While the site is not a detention centre, and there have been no reports of crimes by the men housed here, the Home Office was accused of using the airfield as an “open-prison camp”.
A report in December 2023 featured shocking testimonials claiming occupants were “suicidal”.
The papers also claimed the asylum seekers were subjected to “intense desperation and fear”;; and refugee charity Care4Calais launched a legal challenge, alleging asylum seekers were being housed at Wethersfield illegally.
The charity said in an appeal for volunteers, the base is “totally unsuitable for people who have fled war, persecution and torture”.
“The location of the base is remote, the buildings are in a state of disrepair, and as a former military base the environment is likely to retraumatise refugees who have been imprisoned in brutal military facilities in their home countries.”
But residents in the village claim they are the ones who are traumatised.
Jeff claims the introduction of the refugees has “changed the way we live our lives”, adding he won't let his three teenage daughters leave the house alone.
He said villagers have been given a number to call if they have any concerns, but he can never get through to anyone.
He says: “It’s as if we don’t matter to the authorities – they only care about the migrants.”
His mother, Melody, said: “We have alarms and cameras to try and make us safer.”
We are trapped here and our homes made worthless
Jeff Temperley, 54village resident
The area, set in beautiful countryside, was once considered one of the safest in the country when the Government used it as a base for Ministry of Defence police.
Melody says she has written to PM Sir but says she's had no reply.
Wethersfield also has no pubs or shops, with the taxis taking the refugees to nearby towns at taxpayers' expense – something locals find frustrating when they struggle to get around easily.
Villager Ann Gibson said she has heard of people being turned away and forced to wait for hours for public transport back from Braintree while the migrants are ferried around for free in minibuses.
She said: “My real issue with the camp is the buses. The minibuses for them are going backwards and forwards all day long, but you try getting a bus round here – it's impossible.”
Referring to feeling intimidated by the migrants, she added: “Sometimes I see large groups of 10 or 12 men walking through the village.”
Len Freshwater, 83, who lives in a restored 16th century farmhouse in sight of the camp, said: “We hear them fighting amongst themselves, and there are often police cars and ambulances tearing about.
“I have been here four years and this is the worst it has been.
“Locals are too frightened even to take their dogs out for a walk near the camp, and youngsters are not encouraged to cycle round the lanes for their own safety.
“It’s a lovely village, but no one wants to come and live here anymore.”
A Government spokesman told the Sun they had a statutory obligation to provide asylum seekers, who would otherwise be destitute, with accommodation, but admitted that in recent years, the costs of doing so have reached “unsustainable levels”;;.
The official added: “We are seeking to reduce the backlog of claims and appeals, end the use of hotels, and cut the cost of other asylum accommodation as soon as possible.”
But the reduction of migrant hotels across the country can't come soon enough for those living in Wethersfield.
Dave Poulter, 73, has lived in the village all his life and remembers when the base was full of American airmen.
He said: “There was never a pebble out of place then, and they had four clubs there, a bowling alley and a cinema.”
Dave says he rarely sees anybody from the camp other than in one of the minibuses constantly driving past his house.
One local who did not want to be named said: “There is real concern and worry about having such a large population of mainly young men – with nothing to do – in our midst.”
Chairman of the parish council Nick Godley said refugees are often drinking in the local social club, adding: “There is some ill-feeling in the village.”
He said there are calls for the centre, around a mile-and-a-half down narrow lanes from the village itself, to be “closed completely”.
Councillor Godley explained: “There is nothing for them to do here – this is an isolated community, we are seven miles from the nearest A-road.”
He claims the “detention camp” staff have to be bussed in from elsewhere “because local people don't want to work there”.
Sales manager Clare Tucker, 51, said: “My house has been up for sale for a couple of weeks and I see the prices are coming down.
“I have heard people are concerned about walking their dogs in the fields around the village.”
Dave claims he's seen house prices plummet in value by up to £100,000.
“The house over the road has been for sale for a while after the woman who lived there died,” he said.
“I've only seen one couple looking at it with the estate agent. I can see the house prices just dropping.”
Sheila Powdrill, who lives in nearby Finchingfield, said: “We put our house on the market just before it opened.
“We had to tell people who came to see the house about the camp opening, and I think that put a lot of them off.
“It was the uncertainty of what it was going to be like, not knowing…
“The house is back on the market now, and we've not had much interest.”
The asylum accommodation site at Wethersfield was identified by the Home Office under the former government as a surplus military site that was suitable to accommodate asylum seekers.
And while Wethersfield provides safe accommodation for asylum seekers and is designed to be as self-sufficient as possible – claims from both sides suggest the contrary.
The camp is run by Clearsprings Ready Homes, an experienced specialist asylum accommodation provider which runs the site on behalf of the Home Office – and is responsible for managing asylum seeker accommodation “in a safe and secure manner”;;.
On arrival, migrants receive a briefing and orientation about the site and the local community, including sessions on anti-social behaviour and road safety.
The authorities claim the maximum length of stay for individual asylum seekers accommodated on site is usually nine months.
The site itself is self-contained and essential services are provided directly to the facility to reduce the impact on local services.
And while officials say the safety and security of the local communities, the staff and those accommodated on the sites are of “the utmost importance”;; with security services permanently on site, those living in the village believe they've been taken for fools.
