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A 600-year-old fortress in a quiet coastal town could be transformed into a hotel for migrants under plans to rehouse asylum seekers.
The UK's oldest "sea fort" in Gosport, Hampshire, is an abandoned military site dating back to the 15th century and closed in 2021.
As part of a pledge to end the use of taxpayer-funded migrant hotels, the Government is reviewing all military sites to decide whether they can be used as alternative accommodation.
When Defence Minister Luke Pollard was asked whether Fort Blockhouse could be used to house migrants, he refused to rule out the possibility.
"Since every government department can contribute something to this effort [to address the small vessel crisis], it is right that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) should do so," he said.
Last week, he said that all sites are being reviewed: "we are reviewing all the military sites that the Ministry of Defense has."
"Some of them have been visited by the Home Office in the past, both under this government and particularly under the previous administration. The priority now is not only to process asylum applicants that were not being processed under the previous government, which we are accelerating, but also to close the asylum hotels. So to do that, we need to provide temporary and suitable accommodation," Pollard said.
The 52-acre site is home to three blockhouses (small defensive forts). There is also a barracks that is used as a museum and one that is used as a shipyard for a sailing club.
When the old military site was active as a submarine base, it employed 2,500 people.
It was built over five centuries, starting in 1431, and served as one of the largest fortresses on the south coast until 1905.
It later became the headquarters of the Navy's submarine service.
In 2016, when the Ministry of Defense considered selling the site, it was advertised as a potential tourist hotspot or hotel.
Then, two years ago, it was reported that Fort Blockhouse could be used for "residential properties along with naval employment."
Dame Caroline Dineage, the Conservative MP for Gosport, criticised the proposal that the historic site should now be used for alternative accommodation for migrants.
She said it would be a "terrible outcome" if asylum seekers were housed in the "unique and special asset".
This comes after the Bibby Stockholm, used by the Conservatives to house migrants, was closed after being moored at the Port of Portland in Dorset for two years.
Both the public and Labour Party MPs widely criticised the use of the boat.
The giant ship housed 500 asylum seekers and reportedly offered rooms with private bathrooms, a gym, cinema room, sports field and restaurant.
A value-for-money assessment stated that a night at Bibby Stockholm cost £120, while a hotel cost £140.
Initial costs for Bibby Stockholm totaled £22 million.
But a slew of horror stories emerged during the two years it was in use. The heartbroken family of Leonard Farruku, a 27-year-old from Albania, issued strong criticism after he died.
He paid 4,000 euros to cross the English Channel in a small boat to arrive in the country.
But he was found unconscious in a shower cabin on board in December 2023.
An inquest into his death found he had suffered from mental health problems since the deaths of his parents and found conditions on the boat "very difficult".
He was reportedly in a "difficult condition" shortly before he died.
In another case, a migrant on a boat reportedly sexually assaulted a woman on a nearby beach.
Two others allegedly sexually assaulted a woman at a club four miles from where the boat was anchored.
Another escaped after being caught with drugs.
Reports from inside the boat claimed it was a "floating prison", with some refusing to board it and being "crushed into the small space".
The new Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is considering the possibility of exchanging migrants from hotels to military barracks and student dormitories.
She has been ordered by the prime minister to "get a handle on" the small boat crisis, according to The Sunday Telegraph.
Dozens of asylum hotels are expected to close after becoming the focal point of several demonstrations in recent months.
Defence Secretary John Healey is considering using military sites to temporarily house asylum seekers, he confirmed.
It comes as Britons were angered after reports emerged showing migrants were spending taxpayers' money and were increasing protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers.
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