Crowborough Training Camp: Asylum Accommodation Profile
Crowborough Training Camp is a former army training camp at Pippingford Park in East Sussex, opened to asylum seekers by the Home Office on 22 January 2026. It is the most recent large-site accommodation facility to come online, and it houses unaccompanied adult men (no women, children or families) aged 18 to 65, scaling to 500 or 600 residents over time. Clearsprings, the contractor, told MPs on 9 June 2026 that there were 480 residents[6]GOV.UK, and Home Office officials said £7.1 million had been spent on the site to that date[6]GOV.UK.
Capacity
500
planned places (a capacity, not residents; GOV.UK factsheet, 2026)
Reported spend to 9 June 2026
£7,100,000
Source: Home Office officials to the Home Affairs Committee (9 June 2026)Spent to 9 June 2026, including £2m of one-off mobilisation. Not an annual or contract value: none is published.
Reported spend to 9 June 2026: £7,100,000 (Home Office officials to the Home Affairs Committee (9 June 2026))
- Asylum use began
- January 2026
- Current status
- Still in asylum use
- Days in asylum use
- 260
Figure quoted directly from a public document; we have not re-estimated it.
Key Facts
Background
Crowborough Training Camp occupies part of the Pippingford Park estate, a large area of countryside east of Crowborough in East Sussex that has historically been used for Army training. The site had existing accommodation blocks and infrastructure from its military-training role, which the Home Office identified as suitable for conversion to asylum accommodation.
The official GOV.UK factsheet confirms that the site is intended as temporary asylum accommodation for unaccompanied adult men aged 18 to 65, scaling to 500 or 600 residents, with the first arrivals on 22 January 2026[1].
Opening and Local Response
ITV News Meridian reported the arrival of the first asylum seekers at Crowborough Army Camp on 22 January 2026. Coverage placed the opening in the context of the wider policy of moving asylum seekers out of hotels, and noted that the opening took place amid local protests and after a failed legal challenge to block it[2].
The House of Commons Library briefing on asylum accommodation groups Crowborough alongside Wethersfield and Cameron Barracks as operational or imminent ex-military large sites[3]. The Cameron Barracks plan was later scrapped, before the site opened[5]GOV.UK.
Cost
No annual or contract value has been published for Crowborough. Asked in the Home Affairs Committee session of 9 June 2026 what the site would cost over 12 months, the minister, Alex Norris, said that was not a figure he could make readily available and that it would be in the Home Office accounts (Q123)[6]GOV.UK.
What officials did give is the cost so far. Alex Norris said £7.5 million had been spent on the site (Q107). Home Office official Andrew Larter said £2 million had been spent on mobilisation and that, with health, police and some Ministry of Defence facilities-management costs, the total to date was £7.1 million (Q109). He said the site is covered by a contract change notice, as Wethersfield was (Q112). Clare Pearson of Clearsprings told the same session that there were 480 residents and that the number was increasing by two lots of 30 a week (Q24), and the capacity was described as on a trajectory to 540 (Q90)[6]GOV.UK. A written ministerial statement of 29 June 2026 says the Government will seek to extend the use of Crowborough[5]GOV.UK.
For information, this site's own estimate of a yearly figure for Crowborough is £13.5 million. It is not a published figure, and it is not in the homepage counter, which uses the National Audit Office's 2024-25 breakdown: Crowborough opened in January 2026, after that year. The estimate takes the £7.1 million, removes the £2 million of one-off mobilisation to leave £5.1 million, and annualises that over the roughly 138 days from the opening on 22 January to the hearing on 9 June 2026 (£5.1 million x 365 / 138). It rests on a partial period before the site was full, and on a total that includes health, police and Ministry of Defence costs as well as the contractor's, so it is an indication and not a contract value.
Because Crowborough has only been operational since January 2026, there is no long-run NAO-verified whole-life figure yet and no published running cost; the £13.5 million above is this site's own annualisation, not a published figure. The National Audit Office identified the fixed standby costs the Home Office pays regardless of occupancy (security, Ministry of Defence licence fees, utilities and contractor mobilisation) as the main structural driver of large-site costs, and concluded that large sites are expected to cost more than hotels[4].
Timeline
Timeline
2025
Failed legal challenge
Local opposition mounted a court challenge to block the conversion of the camp; the challenge was dismissed.
22 Jan 2026
First asylum seekers arrive
ITV Meridian reported the first arrivals at Crowborough Army Camp under the wider policy of moving asylum seekers out of hotels.
2026
Scaling to 500 to 600 residents
Site continues ramping toward its planned peak occupancy of 500 or 600 unaccompanied adult men.
9 Jun 2026
Officials give the cost so far and the resident count
Home Office officials say £7.1 million has been spent, including £2 million of one-off mobilisation. Clearsprings says there are 480 residents, with capacity on a trajectory to 540. No annual or contract value is published.
29 Jun 2026
Government says it will seek to extend use of the site
A written ministerial statement says the Government will seek to extend the use of Crowborough.
Sources
- Crowborough Training Camp, East Sussex: factsheet · GOV.UK (Home Office), 2026
Official factsheet on the use of Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex as temporary asylum accommodation for single adult male asylum seekers aged 18-65, with arrivals from 22 January 2026.
- First asylum seekers moved into Crowborough Army Camp amid pressure to end hotel use · ITV News Meridian, Jan 2026
ITV report confirming the arrival of the first asylum seekers at Crowborough Army Camp in East Sussex in January 2026 and placing the opening in the context of the wider policy of moving asylum seekers out of hotels.
- Asylum accommodation: hotels, vessels and large-scale sites · House of Commons Library, 2025
Parliamentary research briefing surveying the UK asylum accommodation estate including hotels, accommodation vessels such as the Bibby Stockholm, and large-scale sites on surplus government or ex-military land.
- Alternative asylum accommodation will cost more than hotels · National Audit Office, Mar 2024
NAO finding that the Home Office expects to spend £1.2 billion on its large-sites programme and had already spent at least £230 million by March 2024 developing four large sites (Bibby Stockholm, RAF Scampton, RAF Wethersfield and former student accommodation in Huddersfield); concludes large-scale sites will cost more than hotels and deliver fewer places than planned.
- 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.
- 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.