A former prison camp in rural South Lakeland should not be used to house asylum seekers, according to Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Collins.

Fears that Bela River prison site, near Milnthorpe, which was once home to German and Italian prisoners of war, could be used to house large numbers of asylum seekers prompted a number of South Lakeland residents to contact their MP.

Mr Collins put a question to the the House of Commons asking if there was any truth in rumours about the prison site, which he said were sweeping the Milnthorpe area.

In response, Minister for Citizenship and Immigration Beverley Hughes denied the rumours but did not rule out the possibility immigrants from war-torn and recovering nations such as Afganhistan could be brought to the site in the long term.

The Government is seeking ways in which to improve the immigration system and has announced up to 3,000 places will eventually be provided to support new asylum seekers at a number of new accommodation centres across the UK.

Sites in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and Newton, Nottinghamshire, have already been identified but so far nothing is on the table for Cumbria.

She said: "There are currently no plans to use the Bela River prison camp as accomadation for asylum seekers. This should not be taken to mean that we would never use the accommodation in connection with housing for asylum seekers.

"If the accommodation were to be offered to us we would consider its potential use in the light of our needs at that time."

Bela River Prison closed in 1974 after housing prisoners for 21 years. Before that it was a PoW camp. After standing empty for more than a decade it was turned into a special school for children with behaviour problems.

Mr Collins said it would be inappropriate to house large numbers of ethnic minorities in the middle of a rural area with one of the lowest ethnic minority demographics in the country.

"A less appropriate site for the asylum seekers themselves, let alone local residents would be difficult to imagine," he said, adding access to cultural and linguistic resources would be scarce.

He denied his comments could give the impression South Lakeland was unwilling to accept ethnic minorities.

"We have a proud record of accepting people into the county - for example the refugees from Kosovo who were welcomed into the area," he said.

The Westmorland Gazette contacted the Refugee Council, the largest refugee organisation in the UK, but it was unavailable to comment.

Beth Broomby

April 17, 2003 14:30