Cameron Barracks: Cancelled Asylum Site Profile
The Home Office planned to use Cameron Barracks, a Ministry of Defence site in Inverness, as temporary asylum accommodation for up to about 300 unaccompanied adult men[1]GOV.UK. STV News reported on 25 June 2026 that the plan had been scrapped[3]Press, and a written ministerial statement of 29 June 2026 said the Government had decided not to proceed with Cameron Barracks and that it will be returned to the Ministry of Defence[4]GOV.UK. The site never opened and nobody was housed there.
Taxpayer cost not established
No source gives a cost for this site, which never housed anyone, so we do not estimate one.
No cost is published for this site, so none is shown, and none is estimated from a nightly rate.
Key Facts
Background
Cameron Barracks is a Ministry of Defence site on the eastern side of Inverness. The Home Office identified it as a potential site for large-scale asylum accommodation, and a GOV.UK factsheet set out the plan to use it as temporary accommodation for up to about 300 single adult male asylum seekers aged 18 to 65[1]GOV.UK.
Minister Alex Norris told the Home Affairs Committee on 9 June 2026 that the Government's aspiration for Cameron Barracks was for 300 more places[2]GOV.UK. Sixteen days later the plan was reported scrapped.
Cancellation, June 2026
STV News reported on 25 June 2026 that plans to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in the Highlands had been scrapped by the Home Office[3]Press.
On 29 June 2026 a written ministerial statement said the Government had decided not to proceed with Cameron Barracks in Scotland as a potential site for asylum accommodation, and that it will be returned to the Ministry of Defence. The same statement said three other ex-military sites are under consideration: MoD Barnham, MoD Bicester and MoD Linton-on-Ouse[4]GOV.UK.
Approved works
STV reported that the plan had been delayed after major refurbishment works worth £1.3 million were approved for January, and that it is not known whether the works, including asbestos removal from the basement boiler room, were carried out[3]Press.
The £1.3 million is therefore the value of works approved, not a published sum spent, and no running cost can arise at a site that never opened. This page does not count any cost for Cameron Barracks, and the homepage counter has no line for it.
Timeline
Timeline
9 Jun 2026
Minister tells MPs the aspiration is for 300 places
Alex Norris tells the Home Affairs Committee the Government's aspiration for Cameron Barracks is for 300 more places.
25 Jun 2026
Plans reported scrapped
STV News reports that the Home Office has scrapped the plan to house asylum seekers at the barracks.
29 Jun 2026
Government confirms it will not proceed
A written ministerial statement says the site will be returned to the Ministry of Defence. Nobody was housed there.
Sources
- Cameron Barracks, Inverness: factsheet · GOV.UK (Home Office), 2026
Official factsheet on the plan to use Cameron Barracks in Inverness as temporary accommodation for up to about 300 single adult male asylum seekers aged 18-65.
- Asylum Accommodation: Follow Up (oral evidence) · House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, 9 Jun 2026
Transcript of the Home Affairs Committee session of 9 June 2026. On Crowborough: the minister, Alex Norris, said the Home Office had not published a cost but had spent £7.5 million on it so far (Q107); Home Office official Andrew Larter said £2 million was spent on mobilisation and, with health, police and some Ministry of Defence facilities-management costs, the total to date was £7.1 million (Q109); he said the site runs under a contract change notice, as Wethersfield did (Q112); Clearsprings' Clare Pearson said there were 480 residents, increasing by two lots of 30 a week (Q24); the capacity was on a trajectory to 540 (Q90); and the minister said a figure for 12 months of cost was not one he could make readily available and that it would be in the Home Office accounts (Q123). The minister also said the Government's aspiration for Cameron Barracks was for 300 more places.
- Controversial plans to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks scrapped by Home Office · STV News, 25 Jun 2026
STV News (25 June 2026) reports that plans to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in the Highlands have been scrapped by the Home Office. It says the plan was delayed after major refurbishment works worth £1.3 million were approved for January, and that it is not known whether the works, including asbestos removal from the basement boiler room, were carried out.
- Written ministerial statement HCWS155 on asylum accommodation sites · UK Parliament (Alex Norris, Minister for Border Security and Asylum), 29 Jun 2026
Written ministerial statement of 29 June 2026. It says the Government has decided not to proceed with Cameron Barracks in Scotland as a potential site for asylum accommodation and that it will be returned to the Ministry of Defence; that it will seek to extend the use of Crowborough and expand both the capacity and duration of use at Wethersfield; and that three new ex-military sites are under consideration: MoD Barnham, MoD Bicester and MoD Linton-on-Ouse.