We live on the doorstep of a notorious migrant processing centre and can't move! Our houses won't sell even after knocking the price down - and it's going to get worse

Daily Mail​

8 hours ago

Desperate homeowners have claimed they cannot sell their properties after a migrant processing centre opened next door.
Locals living near Manston Arrivals and Processing Centre in Kent have slashed tens of thousands of pounds off their property value as they cannot sell them.
Some have complained of their properties being on the market for over a year and believe the centre is the main reason why.
The small town, with just 1,975 people living in it, say the centre has sent house prices plummeting.
It processes migrants who arrive from France across the Channel and they stay there for between 24 hours and a few days. Buses each day take them into the centre for processing.
Locals have complained of noise and anti-social behaviour linked to the site for months.
There are also plans for a £700 million refurbishment, raising fears migrants could stay there longer than just a few days for processing.
Software engineer Supun Dasanayake, 37, has been trying to sell his detached family home just yards from the site for a year.
But nobody has made an offer in that time on the £300,000 property and he believes the centre is the reason why.
Mr Dasanayake (pictured) said: 'It's been a nightmare. We're moving because we want a bigger house which will cost more money. 'But we have tried everything we can to sell it in the last year and can't. 'It's so difficult. We might not even bother now'
He said: 'It's been a nightmare. We're moving because we want a bigger house which will cost more money.
'But we have tried everything we can to sell it in the last year and can't.
'It's so difficult. We might not even bother now.
'We're so close to the centre. I think people are put off by it.
'People talk about it a lot locally. It's a huge issue. People are concerned by it.
'The police even came to my house a while ago and asked if we knew anything about a disturbance at the centre. I didn't know anything.
'It's bound to have an impact.'
Mr Dasanayake was even confronted by a drunk local and asked if he was a resident at the centre.
He said: 'I am a person of colour. One day I was walking and a man who was clearly drunk started speaking to me. He asked if I was from the centre.
'People don't want it there. It's in the back of people's minds.
'I just want to sell my house and move. I don't know what to do.'
Steve Parry, 56, was been trying to sell a detached £350,000 home nearby for six months and worries the centre is an issue.
The plumber said: 'It's not a great selling point, is it? I don't know what to do.
'Originally the house was £370,000 but we have reduced it. I just hope we can sell.'
One landlord - who owns a property in the area he cannot sell - believes issues relating to the centre is the problem.
The man, who did not want to give his name, said: 'It's clearly a big concern. I'm worried because I have a home I want to sell. It was an investment. I never imagined I would have this problem.
Pictured: a coach with people thought to be migrants onboard, leaves Manston immigration short-term holding facility on July 10, 2023
'The impact this situation has on the ordinary working man and woman is huge. The government does not realise that or seem to care. It's shocking.'
Sandra Baines, 45, has been told the value of her £300,000 has reduced. The two-bedroom semi-detached home is less than half a mile from the centre.
She added: 'We were looking to move this year and would have made a little profit on it which would allow us to move somewhere bigger.
'That's not possible. We've really missed out. It's not fair. Me and my husband work really hard and bring up a family. We're decent people and we work hard and contribute to society.
'I believe we've done our bit in Manston. It should close down. We've had enough.
'It's out of control.'
In February, locals in Manston told The Daily Mail of their fury at the proposed 'refurbishment' of the centre, costing around £700million.
Many feared that the site, used to process migrants who arrived from France across the Channel, could be used to house new arrivals on a more permanent basis.
Opened in January 2022, the former RAF base was set up as an emergency holding centre for migrants arriving on the shores of south-east England claiming asylum.
Just nine months later, however, chaos broke out when the site, designed to hold no more than 1,500 people, was overwhelmed with almost 4,000 people.
Men, women and children were propped up in makeshift tent accommodation with Manston quickly being branded a 'filthy prison' after outbreaks of diphtheria, scabies, MRSA and violence erupted, killing one Iraqi migrant Hussein Haseeb Ahmed, 31.
In March, an inquiry was opened to explore the 'decisions, actions and circumstances' that led to 18,000 people being detained longer than the prescribed 24-hour period - including one Afghan family who were kept in a marquee for 32 days.
The Home Office had planned to build a 700-capacity migrant removal centre on the site, but that plan was later overturned.
Currently the former RAF base is made up of old buildings that have been turned into accommodation blocks and a number of large tents that also act as housing.
But new plans for the 93-acre site include the asylum reception centre, a Border Force training centre, CCTV security, parking and a waste treatment centre.
It was previously reported that keeping Manston, along with a reception site at Western Jet Foil in the Port of Dover where migrants disembark from crossing the Channel, running for 10 years would cost £700million.
Residents living yards away from the site on a former military housing estate, however, would prefer that it was completely shut down altogether rather than upgraded and are concerned about the effect the centre will have on already-squeezed services.
Rob Carroll, who has lived on the estate for 20 years told the Daily Mail: 'I think the expansion is wrong because we need to support our own people. These are not refugees - these are economic migrants and that is what upsets a lot of the people around here.
'We have older people, children at schools, we have special needs schools for children and groups are closing because of the lack of Government funding but we are spending millions of pounds a day funding this sort of enterprise, which isn't good for the country.
'You can't get a GP appointment around here so you have to go through online referrals and I know from experience that the schools around here have seen a huge influx which affects the teaching.
'Classes have multi-linguistic issues so children suffer because of the time it takes to teach everyone everything. All the medical facilities, schools, doctors, dentists, they are all affected. The whole thing is wrong.
'Living so nearby we can hear every time that a coach turns up, people cheering and clapping because it is a celebration for them.'
Paul Bell, 48, a chartered engineer, living in the village added: 'I have nothing against the expansion of the asylum centre, but I am concerned about the increase in development without an upgrade in the infrastructure. There has been an increase in traffic and strains put on housing and medical care.'
Meanwhile, David Stroud, 66, a cabaret artist, said: 'They're [the government] putting money into that [place], expanding that [centre], when our streets need tidying up, our own people need looking after, because they really do. We're struggling and we're paying to keep these people.'
Paul Bell, 48, (pictured) a chartered engineer living in the village, said: 'I have nothing against the expansion of the asylum centre, but I am concerned about the increase in development without an upgrade in the infrastructure'
It comes just days after a record 107 small boat migrants reached Britain in one dinghy, smashing the previous record of 96 people aboard one inflatable.
The dinghy - which can barely be described as a 'small boat' - was recovered in the Channel and taken to Dover, where it was being examined by Border Force and law enforcement, GB News reported.
The appearance of the larger type of dinghy further undermines Labour's decision to concentrate on law enforcement responses to 'smash the gangs'.
Keir Starmer scrapped the previous Conservative government's Rwanda asylum scheme as one of his first acts in office, just as it was finally ready to get off the ground.
Small boat arrivals so far this year are up 47 per cent on the same period last year, hitting record levels of more than 27,000.
One maritime source described the arrival of the dinghy as 'highly alarming', telling GB News: 'Bigger boats mean bigger numbers of arrivals, at a time when we're already seeing record numbers crossing from France.