Wyke Regis Training Area / Chickerell Camp, Dorset

The Wyke Regis Training Area is a long-standing British Army training estate stretching along Fleet Lane in Chickerell (DT3 4DF), flanked by the Fleet lagoon and Chesil Beach to the south. Chickerell Camp itself, often used interchangeably in the press, is the residential element of the wider training area. The camp historically provided live-in accommodation for soldiers attending bridging, watermanship and combat engineer courses run from the base.

The wider Weymouth and Portland area has a long record of hosting central government schemes. Hansard records a 2023 House of Commons debate on Asylum Seeker Accommodation: South Dorset, with constituency MPs raising concerns about the suitability of MoD-managed sites for vulnerable arrivals ahead of the Chickerell Camp opening^[6]GOV.UK.

The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) is for Afghan citizens and their families who worked for or with the UK Government and British Armed Forces in Afghanistan in exposed or meaningful roles. Eligible families have a right to remain in the UK and are entitled to access services and benefits in recognition of their support. As of 1 July 2025 ARAP closed to new applications, although existing applications submitted before that date continue to be processed. In December 2024 the Government launched the unified Afghan Resettlement Programme bringing the existing schemes into a single pipeline^[7]GOV.UK.

The National confirmed Chickerell Camp is one of several MoD bases used to house Afghans relocated to the UK, alongside Garats Hay in Leicestershire, Larkhill in Wiltshire and other garrison sites^[4]Press.

ITV News West Country reported on 13 December 2023 that the MoD was using Chickerell Camp near Weymouth to accommodate people from Afghanistan and their families who have a right to remain in the UK. Dorset Council noted up to 250 people at a time would be housed at the camp for up to six weeks while permanent accommodation was found. The authority stressed the residents were not refugees but ARAP-eligible Afghans entitled to live, work and access services^[1]Press.

Constituency MP Chris Loder confirmed in his Christmas 2023 statement that eligible families began moving into the camp on a revolving basis from 13 December 2023, with the arrangement initially expected to run for up to six months^[2]GOV.UK.

Local Dorset coverage focused on the welcome reception organised by Weymouth residents, with Dorset Eye coordinating donations of clothing, toys and household goods for Afghan families newly arrived at the camp^[5]Press. A 2024 cross-party parliamentary visit to Chickerell Camp praised the generosity of local volunteer groups and confirmed the site was still being used for Afghan families well into 2024^[3]GOV.UK.

The Wyke Regis Training Area sits on the existing MoD garrison estate and is run by the Ministry of Defence. The associated accommodation costs land on the MoD Afghan resettlement budget rather than on the Home Office asylum hotel programme, so they do not count against the £170 per person per night dispersal benchmark used elsewhere across this site. We deliberately set the per-day cost to zero in our lifecycle data so the Home Office hotel spending counter does not double-count this site. The House of Commons Library briefing on UK immigration schemes for Afghan nationals sets out the funding split between the schemes^[7]GOV.UK.