Weeton Barracks (RAF Weeton), Lancashire
Weeton Barracks at Weeton-with-Preese in Lancashire (PR4 3JQ), the former RAF Weeton site, was used from November 2023 to house up to 55 Afghan families in surplus Service Family Accommodation under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. This site was used for Afghan ARAP / ACRS resettlement. It is NOT a Home Office asylum dispersal site. Readers tracking asylum accommodation costs should treat this as a separate MoD scheme with different policy and a different resident profile. The MoD answer to a written parliamentary question in August 2025 confirmed that the Afghan Entitled Persons were expected to vacate by the end of November 2025 so that the surplus housing could return to use by the 1st Battalion The Lancashire Regiment, who have re-occupied the barracks since 2024[3]GOV.UK.
Scheme note. The Afghan families housed at Weeton are Entitled Persons under ARAP, granted indefinite leave to remain after working with UK forces in Afghanistan. They are not asylum seekers in the Home Office system. The MoD funded the use of surplus Service Family Accommodation rather than the Home Office Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contracts that dominate the rest of this map[4]GOV.UK.
Key Facts
Background
Weeton Barracks, the modern designation for the former RAF Weeton, is an army barracks at Weeton-with-Preese on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, between Preston and Blackpool. The site was an RAF training station from 1940 and has since been used by various Army units. It has been occupied by the 1st Battalion The Lancashire Regiment since 2024, with returning posters and Lancashire County Council Armed Forces Covenant material confirming the regimental move.
In November 2023 the Ministry of Defence announced that surplus Service Family Accommodation at Weeton would be used on a transitional basis for Afghan families with a legal right to be in the UK under ARAP. The Blackpool Gazette and Lytham St Annes News reported the scheme starting from 10 November 2023, with up to 55 families expected and a maximum individual stay of around six weeks while permanent accommodation was arranged[1]Press[2]Press.
ARAP use, 2023 to 2025
The MoD answer to written question 73595, tabled in August 2025, made the operational picture clear. Weeton has been occupied by the Lancashire Regiment since 2024. Only the surplus Service Family Accommodation, not the operational barracks blocks, was allocated to the Afghan Relocation Programme. Afghan Entitled Persons were expected to vacate the surplus housing by the end of November 2025 so that the full SFA pool could return to military family use[3]GOV.UK.
The Commons Library briefing on ARAP and ACRS frames Weeton alongside other surplus military accommodation used in England between 2021 and 2025 to deliver the schemes, treating this stream of accommodation as a distinct policy channel from the Home Office asylum dispersal contracts run by Mears, Serco and Clearsprings[4]GOV.UK.
Exit and return to barracks use
By the time of the August 2025 MoD answer, ministers had committed to vacating the Afghan ARAP residents by the end of November 2025 so that surplus Service Family Accommodation could return to use by serving personnel and their families. The site is therefore tracked here as a closed Afghan resettlement record, not as an active large site. Because this was always an MoD scheme rather than a Home Office asylum dispersal contract, the closure does not contribute to the Home Office hotel exit programme totals reported elsewhere on this map.
Timeline
Timeline
1940 to 2020s
Operates as RAF Weeton then as Weeton Barracks for various Army units
10 Nov 2023
First Afghan ARAP families arrive
Up to 55 Afghan families expected, housed in surplus Service Family Accommodation under the MoD ARAP scheme.
2024
1st Battalion The Lancashire Regiment re-occupies the barracks
Operational blocks return to regimental use; only surplus SFA continues to host ARAP families.
Aug 2025
MoD answers parliamentary question 73595
Confirms the regimental occupation and that Afghan Entitled Persons are expected to vacate by end of November 2025.
Nov 2025
ARAP use scheduled to end
Surplus SFA cleared for return to serving military family use.
Sources
- 55 Afghan refugee families to be housed at army barracks near Blackpool — Blackpool Gazette, Nov 2023
Blackpool Gazette reports up to 55 Afghan families with a legal right to be in the UK began arriving at Weeton Barracks near Blackpool from November 2023 under the ARAP scheme, housed in surplus Service Family Accommodation as transitional housing for up to six weeks.
- Afghan Refugees To Be Housed At Weeton Barracks From Friday — Lytham St Annes News, Nov 2023
Lytham St Annes News reports Afghan families relocating to Weeton Barracks under ARAP from 10 November 2023, with the MoD using surplus Service Family Accommodation on a transitional basis while permanent housing is arranged.
- Weeton Barracks: Written Question 73595 — Hansard / UK Parliament, Aug 2025
Hansard written question and Ministry of Defence answer confirming Weeton Barracks has been occupied by 1st Battalion The Lancashire Regiment since 2024, that only surplus Service Family Accommodation was used for the Afghan Relocation Programme, and that Afghan Entitled Persons were expected to vacate by the end of November 2025.
- Resettlement scheme for locally employed civilians in Afghanistan — House of Commons Library, 2025
Commons Library research briefing on the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), explaining that beneficiaries are granted indefinite leave to remain and are policy and operationally distinct from Home Office asylum dispersal.