As part of Brighton and London No Borders' campaign against the latest
attempt to build a detention centre in the Crawley area, we are asking
anyone concerned with the ongoing detention of children to join an
email campaign against the proposed 'pre-departure accommodation'
planned for Pease Pottage in Sussex.

If we can persuade the Mid Sussex District Council Central Area
Planning Committee that this Home Office proposed operation can in
anyway be considered to be a secure facility, reneging on the
Coalition's promise to end the "detention of children for immigration
purposes", we can stop this glorified PR exercise and force the
government to truly end this barbaric practice.

NB The current date for the planning meeting to consider the
application is 17 March, so please hurry!

Here is a suggested letter of complaint you could use:

LETTER OF COMPLAINT:

I wish to express in the strongest possible terms my objections to the
planned "pre-departure accommodation" facility in Pease Pottage. Not
only does the proposed facility completely fail to fulfil the
Coalition's pledge to end "the detention of children for immigration
purposes", the whole planning application and the process so far
followed by the Home Office is fatally flawed.

Firstly, in seeking to expedite the project in order to meet the
Coalition's self-imposed deadline of 11 May 2001 for the ending of the
detention of children in immigration facilities, it has been subject
to none of the EU Procurement procedures necessary, with no restricted
pre-qualification questionnaires issued or open tendering documents
released. When officials were questioned as to why at a recent UKBA
stakeholders meeting they claimed there was not enough time to do so.
This clearly breached EU Procurement Directives.

Secondly, the planning application for a Change of Use itself is
flawed. The current occupant of the site is residential school for
children with behavioural and learning difficulties. Under the
planning regulations this is classified as Class C2 [Residential
institutions - Residential care homes, hospitals, nursing homes,
boarding schools, residential colleges and training centres]. The Home
Office is arguing that "pre-departure accommodation" falls into this
category, rather than the normal Class C2A [C2A Secure Residential
Institution - Use for a provision of secure residential accommodation,
including use as a prison, young offenders institution, detention
centre, secure training centre, custody centre, short term holding
centre, secure hospital, secure local authority accommodation or use
as a military barracks] classification applied to all other
immigration detention facilities.

Yet, all adults accommodated in this facility, with its 2.5m high
security fences, CCTV and electronically-operated gates, will be held
under a secure status; they will arrive and leave in secure transport
and they will not be allowed to leave the facility whilst there.
Additionally, their children will only be allowed to leave the
facility subject to a risk assessment and under suitable adult
supervision. All will continue to be held under the provisions of the
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, exactly the same
provisions currently used to hold families and children for
immigration purposes, exactly the same form of 'administrative
detention' as was introduced in the Immigration Act 1971.

This clearly falls into Class C2A and as such the application should
be rejected. Additionally, the provision of "pre-departure
accommodation" in no way fulfils the Coalition's pledge to end "the
detention of children for immigration purposes" and the very fact that
a residential school for children with behavioural and learning
difficulties, a much needed community resource, is being closed in
order to accommodate this new species of detention centre only adds
insult to injury, both to the current child residents and to the
potential future residents, none of whom have committed any crime yet
will be deprived of their liberty here in Pease Pottage.

I therefore urge you to do all you can to voice opposition to this plan.

Yours

[your name and address]

***********************************

PEOPLE TO SEND IT TO:

Mid Sussex District Central Area Planning Committee

[Copy and paste into the To: pane]
 andrew.macnaughton@midsussex.gov.uk,  chris.hersey@midsussex.gov.uk,
 jonathan.ash-edwards@midsussex.gov.uk,  irene.balls@midsussex.gov.uk,
 richard.bates@midsussex.gov.uk,  john.demierre@midsussex.gov.uk,
 margaret.hersey@midsussex.gov.uk,  jane.keel@midsussex.gov.uk,
 edward.king@midsussex.gov.uk,  sue.ng@midsussex.gov.uk,
 robert.salisbury@midsussex.gov.uk

All 54 Mid Sussex District Councillors:

[Copy and paste into the To: pane]
 andrew.macnaughton@midsussex.gov.uk,  gary.marsh@midsussex.gov.uk,
 stephen.barnett@midsussex.gov.uk,  susan.seward@midsussex.gov.uk,
 jacqui.landriani@midsussex.gov.uk,
 andrew.barrett-miles@midsussex.gov.uk,
 mandy.thomas-atkin@midsussex.gov.uk,  eileen.balsdon@midsussex.gov.uk,
 julian.thorpe@midsussex.gov.uk,  heather.ross@midsussex.gov.uk,
 mike.livesey@midsussex.gov.uk,  sophia.harrison@midsussex.gov.uk,
 dorothy.hatswell@midsussex.gov.uk,  ian.pearce@midsussex.gov.uk,
 mike.watts@midsussex.gov.uk,  robert.salisbury@midsussex.gov.uk,
 edward.king@midsussex.gov.uk,  liz.bennett@midsussex.gov.uk,
 peter.reed@midsussex.gov.uk,  bernard.gillbard@midsussex.gov.uk,
 andrew.brock@midsussex.gov.uk,  chris.jerrey@midsussex.gov.uk,
 ian.dixon@midsussex.gov.uk,  jean.glynn@midsussex.gov.uk,
 heidi.brunsdon@midsussex.gov.uk,  james.joyce-nelson@midsussex.gov.uk,
 edward.matthews@midsussex.gov.uk,  peter.martin@midsussex.gov.uk,
 sue.hatton@midsussex.gov.uk,  gordon.marples@midsussex.gov.uk,
 richard.bates@midsussex.gov.uk,  brian.hall@midsussex.gov.uk,
 irene.balls@midsussex.gov.uk,  garry.wall@midsussex.gov.uk,
 john.demierre@midsussex.gov.uk,  sue.ng@midsussex.gov.uk,
 jonathan.ash-edwards@midsussex.gov.uk,  john.belsey@midsussex.gov.uk,
 jane.keel@midsussex.gov.uk,  chris.hersey@midsussex.gov.uk,
 simon.mcmenemy@midsussex.gov.uk,  anna.defilippo@midsussex.gov.uk,
 susanna.kemp@midsussex.gov.uk,  jack.callaghan@midsussex.gov.uk,
 margaret.hersey@midsussex.gov.uk,  andrew.lea@midsussex.gov.uk,
 christopher.snowling@midsussex.gov.uk

OR SNAIL MAIL:
Council Chamber
Mid Sussex District Council
Oaklands
Oaklands Road
Haywards Heath
RH16 1SS


More info:
Corporate Watch article:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/02/473876.html
London No Borders:  http://london.noborders.org.uk/