The Labour government could extend the use of a former military barracks to house asylum seekers despite local backlash, KentOnline can exclusively reveal.

The Home Office had been set to hand Napier Barracks in Folkestone back to Taylor Wimpey in March next year in order for the site to be redeveloped into housing.

But it has been confirmed that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper could decide to keep hold of the 130-year-old accommodation in Cheriton for longer.

It comes as a new report by inspectors reveals asylum seekers prefer staying at Napier Barracks than hotels - and even say the food there is better.

The site was first brought into use in 2020 by the previous Conservative government amid the mounting cost of hotel accommodation for asylum seekers, which has now risen to £8.3 million a day.

But it sparked fierce opposition - including from various Labour MPs and members - and many still believe Napier Barracks should be shut down.

This week Folkestone and Hythe district Labour councillor Bridget Chapman has called for an “immediate” end to a “harmful scheme with no lasting benefits”.

Although the government has permission to occupy the North Road site until September 2026, it planned on leaving on March 25 next year to enable Taylor Wimpey to build hundreds of homes there.

But now Labour is in power the situation may change, with a Home Office spokesperson telling KentOnline: “Decisions on the future use of current accommodation sites will be made by the Home Secretary in due course.

“No asylum seeker will spend longer than 90 days accommodated at Napier Barracks, as per the terms of the Equality Impact Assessment for the site.”

This limit on stays at the site is proving attractive to asylum seekers, according to a report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration published last month.

At the time of the inspectors’ visit in July, there were 276 men at Napier Barracks, with a further 40 due to arrive imminently.

But each arrival can only stay for a maximum of 90 days, following a High Court ruling in 2021.

The report says: “The knowledge that there was a maximum length of stay had a positive impact on service users.

“They told inspectors they had asked for their friends to be moved from hotels to Napier because of the maximum length of stay policy and the degree of certainty that it provided.”

It also reveals the site has a five-star hygiene rating, adding: “Service users at Napier Barracks told inspectors that they preferred the food there compared to hotels where they had previously been accommodated.”

Meanwhile, staff told inspectors how they organised meals for cultural events like Christmas and Eid to “foster a positive and relaxed atmosphere in the dining area where service users and staff could mingle and dine together”.

Inspectors also noted displays of art by current and past residents presented a cheery and encouraging picture to new arrivals.

The report says: “Service users spoke positively of their experiences at Napier Barracks, describing it as a ‘transformative’ environment.

“They emphasised the positive influence of the on-site staff and the opportunities they had to volunteer and contribute to the local community.”

Inspectors say charity volunteers at the barracks promote a “give back to the community” programme through which asylum seekers offer free haircuts to homeless people and donate food grown on-site to local shelters.

Napier Barracks has up to a dozen men sleeping in each dormitory, with beds separated by wooden partition walls and curtains. Toilets and washing facilities are provided on a communal basis, sometimes in a different building.

The report adds: “One of the main complaints from service users in ex-military sites was the lack of privacy and inability to sleep due to noise from other service users.”

Despite the improvements highlighted in the report, Cllr Chapman says Napier Barracks is within an isolated area, far from amenities, where extremists can easily target residents.

She believes many from war-torn countries find the military setting traumatising.

She added: “When Napier Barracks was opened as an accommodation for people seeking asylum I made it clear I was opposed.

“I am calling on the government to close it with immediate effect, to house residents in more appropriate settings that meet their needs.”

The site is run by Clearsprings, which this week was revealed to have made a profit of £91.2 million last year, paying £90 million in dividends to a holding company.

The Essex-based company has Home Office contracts worth £1 billion for providing asylum accommodation - housing people in hotels, old military barracks and flats.

Cllr Chapman added: “I am calling on the government to cancel the contract with Clearsprings and claw back as much of the £1 billion as possible, and to use that site to get on with building the council housing we need urgently.

“The site had previously been earmarked for housing - housing still desperately needed in this area.”

Napier has been used since 2020 as contingency or temporary accommodation for up to 350 asylum seekers. In September 2021 an order was laid before Parliament extending the use for another five years.

Ever since the accommodation was set up there have been calls for it to close, including from MPs, charities, church leaders and nearby residents.

Folkestone and Hythe Labour councillors joined the calls when, in 2022, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on immigration detention said the Home Office "failed to address the fundamental problems at the site".

The same year, a High Court judgement declared facilities inadequate and the Home Office guilty of employing unlawful practices.

Back then, six asylum seekers waiting for their claims to be considered won a legal challenge against the government after a judge ruled their accommodation fell significantly below the minimum standard.

The court found Napier Barracks provided inadequate accommodation and then-Home Secretary Priti Patel’s process for selecting people to stay there was flawed and unlawful.

It also found residents were unlawfully detained under purported Covid rules.

The camp has faced a number of issues, including demonstrations, arrests, a fire, Covid outbreaks, hunger strikes and reports of far-right groups targeting those staying there.

In the last three years, Clearsprings made more than £180 million net profit, with about £90 million profit in the year ending January 2024, a jump from £60 million the previous year.

In May, its director Graham King entered The Sunday Times rich list with an estimated £750 million net worth, meaning he could become the asylum industry’s first billionaire.

The group’s strategic statement says: “The Home Office contracts run until September 2029.

“Demand for accommodation for asylum seekers has remained high throughout the year.

“Asylum seekers continue to enter the UK and require accommodation.

“This has necessitated continued use of contingency accommodation including hotels.

“The company is looking to expand its involvement in large non-hotel accommodation sites, such as ex-army camps."

The Home Office has pledged to end the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers, but the number of people arriving remains high, with more than 30,000 crossing the Channel this year alone on small boats.

Taylor Wimpey began acquiring the former Shorncliffe Garrison from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in 2015.

The local authority in 2020 granted reserved matters planning approval to redevelop Napier into new homes.

Since then, it has remained under MoD ownership, with Taylor Wimpey set to take over in 2026, with no control over the use of the land until then.

The housing giant’s first properties were constructed at St Martin's Plain, at the top of Horn Street.

Next came the new-builds at The Stadium off Church Road, where Sunday League and youth football matches have been held for decades.

Pitches remain there today - with much-improved changing facilities replacing a large corrugated iron shed.

Meanwhile, the former officers' mess in Pond Hill Road has been turned into flats, with a new apartment block next door.

The homes are fully occupied, as are the Valley View properties in the adjacent Cheriton Court Road.

Next, along North Road, Somerset Barracks were demolished and replaced with new houses and flats.

Much of Burgoyne Barracks, along West Road at the top of Hospital Hill, has also been flattened and many of the Burgoyne Heights properties have been built.

Risborough Barracks has also been demolished and new-builds are currently going up.

Napier is set to be the last part to be flattened.

Often described as the British Army’s birthplace, Shorncliffe Camp was built in Cheriton in 1794 in response to the Napoleonic threat.

It is situated less than 30 miles from the French coast, where encroaching smoke from Bonaparte’s troops' campfires was visible across the Channel.

Since then, the camp has played an integral part in the UK’s war efforts.

In 1803 Sir John Moore famously trained the Light Division, which, under the Duke of Wellington, famously fought in pivotal battles in Spain and Waterloo.

With Napoleon defeated in The Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Shorncliffe continued to be used to train soldiers in trench-building and fighting through the next two centuries.

Troops bound for the Western Front during the First World War stayed there, while tens of thousands of soldiers rested at the staging post during the Second World War.

Historically, Moore, Burgoyne, Somerset, Napier, Risborough and Ross barracks have housed numerous regiments on the 220-acre site.

But as time passed and the nature of warfare changed, the MoD utilised Shorncliffe less often. Then in 2013, it was announced the land would be sold to Taylor Wimpey for 1,200 homes.