Asylum seekers are to be offered free art classes and well-being sessions while being housed at a military barracks in Sussex, according to reports.
Protests could be seen in the local town of Crownborough this weekend, as an estimated 3,000 residents took to the streets in opposition to the proposed 600 asylum seekers being moved in nearby.
Crowborough Training Camp is to serve as temporary accommodation for a 12-month period, as the Home Office looks to shut down asylum hotels across the country.
But despite the fierce opposition from locals, plans seem to be moving forward.
The Home Office have already started to advertise jobs at the base: a £32,000-a-year "activity coordinator" who will organise the art classes and well-being sessions - free of charge to the migrants.
Lessons, sports, and cultural events will also be included in addition to the free art sessions, The Sun reports.
According to the advert, "weekly and monthly calendar of activities" needs to be "inclusive, culturally sensitive and aligned with migrants’ needs and interests".
Other jobs include five site managers, each earning up to £60,000 a year, a security team leader on £44,000, and 15 security officers on £35,000.
Councillor Andrew Wilson, who represents Crowborough South East Ward, said, despite the job adverts, the Home Office had "farcically claimed they have not yet made a decision."
An estimated 3,000 residents in Crowborough took to the streets in opposition to the proposed 600 asylum seekers being housed nearby
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Those who took part were each given numbers up to 600, representing the amount of migrants who were to be housed in the area
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He told GB News: "It's galling that at a time when families in Wealden are bracing themselves to be hit hard by Labour’s budget this Wednesday, it is rubbing salt into the wound that the Government thinks it is appropriate to provide taxpayer-funded art classes and leisure activities for people who entered the country illegally.
"Crowborough is not a holiday camp."
The councillor added that local residents have had "no meaningful consultation, no transparency and no reassurance on public safety or pressure on services."
"There is absolutely no evidence that art workshops or well-being sessions reduce crime or antisocial behaviour. That is wishful thinking, not serious policy," he explained.
"If Ministers have money for this, they should be spending it on British families, veterans and pensioners who are already struggling to cope with rising costs.
"Compassion does not mean ignoring fairness or common sense, and it certainly does not mean treating our town as a convenient dumping ground."
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Crowborough Training Camp, where 600 migrants will be housed and said to receive free art and well-being sessions, paid for by the taxpayer
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Sunday saw thousands of local residents take to the streets in opposition to the proposed plans.
Speaking to GB News, they expressed their fury: "I'm marching for my grandchildren and my great grandchildren. I don't want to have them in fear that they can't walk down the street in case they get attacked," one local said.
Another explained their concerns over "the safety of the village, women, children and elderly".
Strangely, police are said to have been handing out rape alarms - insisting this was not connected to the incoming migrants.
"The local neighbourhood policing team attended a community event as part of its routine crime prevention and engagement work," they said.
Crowborough resident Simon Brown said he is 'genuinely scared' of hundreds of migrants being moved into his community
| GB NEWSThis prompted Kim Bailey, chair of campaign group Crowborough Shield, to question: “If everything is ‘safe, legal and compliant’, why do women in a sleepy little town like Crowborough need rape alarms?”
Shockingly, Ms Bailey has also claimed that locals could get as little as 48 hours' notice before the migrants arrive, which is expected to happen before the end of December.
The council are said to be looking into a potential legal challenge against the move.
Crowborough Shield has raised around £40,000 from crowdfunding and private donations, if there were grounds to challenge.
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