SHE has snubbed residents, turned down dozens of interviews and repeatedly refused invitations to visit Lee-on-the-Solent.

But now in a dramatic change of heart Home Office minister Beverley Hughes has cleared her diary to see for herself the Daedalus site during an hour-long visit on Thursday.

Her visit comes three months after she announced the former airbase was being considered to house 400 male asylum seekers while their applications are processed.

Only Fareham Council leader Sean Woodward, Gosport Council leader Shaun Cully and Gosport MP Peter Viggers have been invited to accompany the immigration and asylum minister on her tour at 12.30pm.

Exact details have yet to be finalised but there are no plans for Mrs Hughes to walk around the seaside town or meet residents.

"At last she is going to look and listen. Whether she hears is another matter," said Cllr Woodward.

"I hope she will look, listen and hear our concerns."

Cllr Woodward received a phone call yesterday afternoon from the man in charge of the project, John Payne, to say that Mrs Hughes would be coming down to Daedalus.

The call came after Cllr Woodward met Mr Payne and other Home Office officials on Friday, demanding that Mrs Hughes visits the site before submitting any planning application.

Cllr Woodward said the social, economic and environmental reasons why Daedulus is the wrong place for an asylum seekers' centre would be made clear during the face-to-face meeting.

"This may or may not be the right policy but this is certainly in the wrong location," he said.

Now campaigners are already preparing a big show of strength outside all the entrance gates to the MoD site to greet Mrs Hughes.

The Daedalus Action Group will meet tonight to put the finishing touches to its action plan that includes campaigners donning yellow caps, blowing whistles and waving banners.

Members plan to print off hundreds of flyers letting people in Lee-on-the-Solent and Stubbington know Mrs Hughes is visiting Daedalus.

Chairman John Beavis said: "Before Mrs Hughes makes any decision she should see the site. It is good news that she seems to have taken that point on board.

"We hope she will realise this is the wrong place for an asylum seekers' centre. We are encouraged that she has at last listened and agreed to see the site for herself."

Gosport MP Peter Viggers said he hoped Mrs Hughes would come with an open mind and be persuaded to listen to residents.

"If she is just here for an hour she will probably whip past the gates to Daedalus and not listen to people at all," he added.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Mrs Hughes is going to look at the site before deciding what to do next."

No date has been set for when the government will announce whether it will go ahead and apply for planning permission for the centre.

l THE Home Office today confirmed that four men being held at the Haslar Detention Centre in Gosport have gone on hunger strike.

Although officials said four detainees were involved in the dispute it is thought that as many as 11 men may be taking part.

A Home Office spokesman said the protest began yesterday lunchtime when the men refused food.

The protest comes less than a month after 25 men at the centre, which can hold 160 asylum seekers, staged a similar dispute. In January a government watchdog's report claimed that staff paid insufficient interest to the welfare of the detainees.