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.
Capacity
450
current beds
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£28m
estimated
Cumulative taxpayer spend
£7,420,500
Cumulative spend since January 2026: £7,420,500
- Asylum use began
- January 2026
- Current status
- Still in asylum use
- Peak residents
- 450
- Days in asylum use
- 97
- Benchmark rate
- £170/person/night
No site-specific total has been published, so this figure approximates it using the contracted bed capacity (peak resident count as a proxy) at the £170/person/night NAO all-in benchmark across the documented asylum-use window. Home Office contracts pay for the full capacity whether beds are occupied or empty, so this is a rough "taxpayer exposure" measure — not a settled invoice.
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].
How the Cost Estimate Works
Because Crowborough has only been operational since January 2026, there is no long-run NAO-verified whole-life figure yet. The taxpayer-cost estimate shown in the callout uses the Migration Observatory's ~£170 per person per night all-in benchmark[5] multiplied by peak contracted capacity (500 men, rising to 600) and the number of days the site has been in use. This approach captures the fixed standby costs the Home Office pays regardless of occupancy (security, Ministry of Defence licence fees, utilities and contractor mobilisation) which the National Audit Office identified as the main structural driver of large-site costs[4].
Cost in context
Crowborough
£170
benchmark
UK asylum hotel avg
£170
NAO
IRC bed-day
£350
benchmark
Hostel bed
£30
commercial
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.
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.
- Asylum accommodation in the UK — Migration Observatory, University of Oxford, Aug 2025
£170 per person per day in hotels (2024/25 average); used for per-hotel estimates and food/utilities breakdowns.