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Yarl's Wood expansion put on hold - the full story
Home Office admits delay due to finance
Plans to more than double the size of Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Clapham have been put on hold.
But the delay may only be for a matter of months according to Home Office officials.
Alistair Burt, MP for North East Beds, celebrated the
news on Tuesday that the Government had put on hold plans to build a second centre at Yarl's Wood.
But the Times & Citizen learnt on Wednesday that the delay, caused because of a lack of funding for the multi-million pound project, may only be until April.
Mr Burt also admitted that the eventual expansion of the centre for illegal immigrants was "inevitable."
He said: "Planning permission has been given for a new Yarl's Wood and it will inevitably be built. But the Government's announcement is an indication of the severity of the financial crisis it has caused.
"We are constantly told that immigration removals are a high priority, but it cannot deliver on such a major programme because of the mess it has made of the economy."
David Wood, strategic director of criminality and detention at the UK Border Agency, which runs Yarl's Wood, revealed the centre's expansion may only be on hold until April, when the new financial year begins and fresh funding is available.
He said: "Expanding the detention estate is a critical part of the UK Border Agency's plans to increase the removal of those who have no legal basis to stay in the UK and the fast removal of those who come to the UK and commit serious crimes.
"No decision on further expansion will be made until the next financial year."
The original Yarl's Wood cost 80 million and held 900 inmates, but half was burned down after a riot by inmates on Valentine's Day 2002, three months after it first opened.
Today it has 405 detention spaces, reserved for women and family groups.
But the new expansion would create another 492-space unit holding male foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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