PLANS have been submitted on behalf of the Home Office paving the way for an immigration removal centre to reopen in Gosport.

The bid at Haslar - which closed in 2015 - will eventually see some 600 male asylum seekers housed at the site in Dolphin Way.

A planning application submitted by Cushman & Wakefield on behalf of the Home Office is requesting permission to knock down two old buildings.

The demolition of buildings at the site is being requested as they are ‘in poor condition and no longer fit for purpose’.

READ MORE: Gosport: Haslar Immigration Removal Centre set to house 600 men

Cushman & Wakefield, acting on behalf of the Home Office, has submitted the bid to Gosport Borough Council.

The company is acting on behalf of the Home Office which has invested in removal centres amid ‘an unprecedented rise in small boat crossings’.

IRCs house asylum seekers pending a final decision in their cases or removal from the country.

Planning documents say the Haslar site is ‘currently being refurbished in order that it is fit for purpose when it reopens as an IRC’.

They added: "Only buildings that are considered of little historic or architectural interest are proposed for demolition or partial demolition. 

"Furthermore, the removal of the buildings and structures will enhance the setting of the existing barracks buildings, as it will remove more recent and unsympathetic alterations to the site."

Some of the buildings are within the Haslar Barracks Conservation Area (HBCA). This is why the Home Office needs to seek planning permission for their demolition.

The structures and ancillary building set for demolition include a store, kitchen and dining rooms, greenhouse, sentry box and server room, along with others.

Haslar IRC was closed by the Government, following a parliamentary review which highlighted immigration detention as ‘expensive and damaging to detainees’.

In September last year, the Home Office unveiled plans to reopen Haslar.

The facility is expected to open at the end of 2023. Residents can view and comment on the application at gosport.gov.uk

A decision is due to be made by November 6.