Villagers have accused asylum seekers living at a former RAF airfield of rioting, attacking moving cars and “defecating” yards from their homes.
They say they do not feel safe to walk in the streets surrounding the airbase at night due to the anti-social behaviour and feel “trapped” because they now cannot sell their homes and move away.
And they fear the situation will be made worse by a Home Office decision to house another 220 migrants at MDP Wethersfield, taking the total living there to up to 800.
The village of Wethersfield in Essex only has a population of 707 people, so the move will see the migrants outnumber the householders.
This is despite Sir Keir Starmer saying prior to the General Election that the airbase-turned-asylum centre “needs to close”.
Agricultural worker Alison Potter, 27, a lifelong resident, said: “No one feels safe. No one wants it any bigger.
“I walk back from the pubs at night and I don’t really want to anymore. I’ve got to walk a hundred yards, I shouldn’t feel like that.”
Another villager Tony Clarke-Holland, 56, said: “We actually put our house on the market (after the asylum centre opened in 2023).
“It wouldn’t sell, it won’t sell now. You’re kind of trapped.”
The self-employed father-of-four, who lives yards from the airbase’s wire fence, added: “We didn’t get one viewing. It’s devastating when it’s part of your retirement plan”.
A local estate agent confirmed that selling property in Wethersfield has become highly challenging since the base took in asylum seekers on July 12, 2023.
The regularity of unidentified male “visitors” in their twenties and thirties pulling up outside his house around midnight, has left Tony reluctant to leave wife Sam, also 56, at home alone.
“We’ve seen cars arrive and rucksacks thrown into the base. Whatever’s going on, I’m sure they’re not throwing pyjamas and cosy blankets over”, he said.
Blake Temperley, 51, who lives with his two teenage daughters in a house near Tony, said groups of 20 or more migrants regularly roam the country roads around the village, leaving its many elderly residents “scared”.
He claimed he had seen migrants defecating in “plain view” outside the base on separate two occasions.
Tony, who has lived opposite the base for more than 25 years, added that during the past six months he has seen “people defecate in a field 20 yards down the road”.
He added: “It’s not acceptable is it? I wouldn’t do it, you wouldn’t do it. It’s not what we expect.”
Blake says an asylum seeker broke free from a medical professional looking after him and attacked his elderly father’s moving car while one of his daughters was inside.
He said: “As my dad was just driving past, only at 5mph or 10mph, just driving to get past them, the asylum seeker pulled away from the doctor and threw himself on the bonnet of the car.
“Obviously that scared my daughter and my dad. Nothing’s been done about that.”
Adam Finbow, 53, who runs a 150-acre farm near the base, accused the migrants of “rioting”.
He said: “Why are they getting everything and we’re getting nothing? And we’re working our a**** off to pay tax to keep them.”
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly, who represents the villagers as the Tory MP for Braintree, shares their concern about the situation getting worse when the migrant population increases to 800.
He said: “It became clear that occupancy above 600 caused problems and was difficult to manage.
“Any increased capacity must be managed closely and reversed if problems reoccur.”
The Home Office notified the local council last week that from February 10 it would be able to increase the base’s migrant population by 220, after meeting the conditions of a Special Development Order.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This Government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain.
“We are working hard to restore order to that system, including tackling the asylum backlog, increasing returns of people with no right to be in the UK and reducing the use of taxpayers’ money on expensive asylum hotels.
“That has inevitably meant difficult choices elsewhere in the short term, including increasing capacity at Wethersfield, but we are determined to reduce pressure throughout the system over time.”
www.express.co.uk
They say they do not feel safe to walk in the streets surrounding the airbase at night due to the anti-social behaviour and feel “trapped” because they now cannot sell their homes and move away.
And they fear the situation will be made worse by a Home Office decision to house another 220 migrants at MDP Wethersfield, taking the total living there to up to 800.
The village of Wethersfield in Essex only has a population of 707 people, so the move will see the migrants outnumber the householders.
This is despite Sir Keir Starmer saying prior to the General Election that the airbase-turned-asylum centre “needs to close”.
Agricultural worker Alison Potter, 27, a lifelong resident, said: “No one feels safe. No one wants it any bigger.
“I walk back from the pubs at night and I don’t really want to anymore. I’ve got to walk a hundred yards, I shouldn’t feel like that.”
Another villager Tony Clarke-Holland, 56, said: “We actually put our house on the market (after the asylum centre opened in 2023).
“It wouldn’t sell, it won’t sell now. You’re kind of trapped.”
The self-employed father-of-four, who lives yards from the airbase’s wire fence, added: “We didn’t get one viewing. It’s devastating when it’s part of your retirement plan”.
A local estate agent confirmed that selling property in Wethersfield has become highly challenging since the base took in asylum seekers on July 12, 2023.
The regularity of unidentified male “visitors” in their twenties and thirties pulling up outside his house around midnight, has left Tony reluctant to leave wife Sam, also 56, at home alone.
“We’ve seen cars arrive and rucksacks thrown into the base. Whatever’s going on, I’m sure they’re not throwing pyjamas and cosy blankets over”, he said.
Blake Temperley, 51, who lives with his two teenage daughters in a house near Tony, said groups of 20 or more migrants regularly roam the country roads around the village, leaving its many elderly residents “scared”.
He claimed he had seen migrants defecating in “plain view” outside the base on separate two occasions.
Tony, who has lived opposite the base for more than 25 years, added that during the past six months he has seen “people defecate in a field 20 yards down the road”.
He added: “It’s not acceptable is it? I wouldn’t do it, you wouldn’t do it. It’s not what we expect.”
Blake says an asylum seeker broke free from a medical professional looking after him and attacked his elderly father’s moving car while one of his daughters was inside.
He said: “As my dad was just driving past, only at 5mph or 10mph, just driving to get past them, the asylum seeker pulled away from the doctor and threw himself on the bonnet of the car.
“Obviously that scared my daughter and my dad. Nothing’s been done about that.”
Adam Finbow, 53, who runs a 150-acre farm near the base, accused the migrants of “rioting”.
He said: “Why are they getting everything and we’re getting nothing? And we’re working our a**** off to pay tax to keep them.”
Former Home Secretary James Cleverly, who represents the villagers as the Tory MP for Braintree, shares their concern about the situation getting worse when the migrant population increases to 800.
He said: “It became clear that occupancy above 600 caused problems and was difficult to manage.
“Any increased capacity must be managed closely and reversed if problems reoccur.”
The Home Office notified the local council last week that from February 10 it would be able to increase the base’s migrant population by 220, after meeting the conditions of a Special Development Order.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This Government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain.
“We are working hard to restore order to that system, including tackling the asylum backlog, increasing returns of people with no right to be in the UK and reducing the use of taxpayers’ money on expensive asylum hotels.
“That has inevitably meant difficult choices elsewhere in the short term, including increasing capacity at Wethersfield, but we are determined to reduce pressure throughout the system over time.”
Asylum seekers pooing yards from villagers homes soon to outnumber locals
EXCLUSIVE: Sunday Express visited Wethersfield, where asylum seeker's anti-social behaviour is destroying locals' lives - now the migrants may outnumber the villagers.
www.express.co.uk
