{"id":266014,"date":"2025-11-16T12:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T12:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/266014\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T12:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T12:12:14","slug":"rats-as-big-as-cats-and-leaking-sewage-filmed-at-ex-raf-base-housing-migrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/266014\/","title":{"rendered":"Rats as \u2018big as cats\u2019 and leaking sewage filmed at ex-RAF base housing migrants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\t\t\t\tPhotos and videos from the former military base Wethersfield show rodents and broken toilets\u00a0
\n\u00a0\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

Footage captured at an ex-RAF base housing hundreds of asylum seekers shows giant rats, leaking toilets and flooded hallways.<\/p>\n

Video and photos reveal squalid conditions at MDP Wethersfield in Essex<\/a>, which accommodates up to 1,245 male migrants who arrived in the UK on small boats.<\/p>\n

Weathersfield is the main military base the Government uses to house small boat migrants.<\/p>\n

The footage shows rats crawling under portacabins,<\/a> with overflowing urinals leaking onto toilet floors at the former Ministry of Defence site.<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.<\/p>\n

Toilets are blocked up and ripped from the walls, a broken washing machine is seen pouring water onto the floor while mounds of rubbish are seen in bedrooms and storerooms.<\/p>\n

Empty beer cans and bottles are seen in piles<\/a> at the facility despite the Government insisting Wethersfield, which is run by Clearsprings Ready Homes on behalf of the Home Office, is a strict \u201cno alcohol zone\u201d where they state \u201cwe\u2019ll continue to ensure that the no alcohol rule is enforced\u201d. <\/p>\n

It comes after a new report found asylum seekers<\/a> are stuck in overcrowded conditions<\/a> with rodent outbreaks inside some hotels in the South of England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A security guard who has worked at Wethersfield said there were \u201crats as big as cats\u201d with the problem at the site getting worse after capacity at the base was increased to 1,240 earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Footage shows rats scurrying under portacabins at the Wethersfield site <\/p>\n

\"\"Rubbish was piled up in rooms at the former military camp, which has capacity to house around 1,200 male migrants<\/p>\n

\"\"Leaking urinals at the base<\/p>\n

They told The i Paper: \u201cThey are literally coming into your buildings. They\u2019re in the rafters.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day as you\u2019re walking from one location to another, they\u2019re running across you. They were huge.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d see rats in rubbish bins that gave birth in there. We got so used to that it just became the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another source said: \u201cA lot of these rats, most of them, are down underneath the prefabs, because there\u2019s space there to sit under.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey live under the portacabins. It\u2019s pretty bad. Some of them are pretty big, as big as a coke bottle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not healthy for anyone. If there\u2019s food on the floor, these rats are scavengers and they are going to pick up whatever they can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least three guards were dismissed from the site after a mass walkout last month<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"Empty beer cans and bottles were pictured despite the Home Office insisting Wethersfield is a strict \u2018no alcohol zone\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"Toilets had been broken or were blocked up at the former RAF airbase<\/p>\n

Before last year\u2019s general election, Sir Keir Starmer said MDP Wethersfield,<\/a> needed to close.<\/p>\n

But as well as extending the use of Wethersfield, the Government is now increasing the number of military bases to house asylum seekers in a bid to slash the cost of hotel accommodation. <\/p>\n

A Home Affairs Committee report earlier this year found said costs from hotel contracts from 2019-2029 will rise from \u00a34.5bn to \u00a315.3bn<\/p>\n

In order to fulfill the goal of closing asylum hotels by 2029, military sites will now be used to house migrants. <\/p>\n

Two further military bases, Crowborough army training camp in East Sussex, and Cameron Barracks in Inverness, are due to house another 900 asylum seekers from this month.<\/p>\n

Ministers say migrants could be housed in temporary prefabricated buildings such as those installed at Wethersfield.<\/p>\n

But the footage raises further questions about conditions at ex-military bases like Wethersfield, which has been dogged with controversy since opening as accommodation for migrants in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"Flooding in one of the hallways at the base<\/p>\n

\"\"A broken washing machine spills onto the floor<\/p>\n

In February, the numbers that could be housed at the base increased from 580 to 800, before the current cap of 1,245 was confirmed in July.<\/p>\n

In 2023, migrants protested after outbreaks of scabies<\/a>, with medics warning of concerns over suicidal thoughts and severe psychological distress<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Fights have also broken out among those housed there, many of whom have travelled from war-torn regions.<\/p>\n

Healthcare specialists have warned residents who endured torture, trafficking and mental health problems shouldn\u2019t be held at Wethersfield.<\/p>\n

The Helen Bamber Foundation has described the base as as \u201copen prison camp\u201d that has caused \u201cirreparable and profound harm\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last month, a trade dispute erupted between security contractors and Clearsprings Ready Homes, with staff complaining about \u201cdisgusting\u201d conditions.<\/p>\n

James Cleverly, the ex-Tory Home Secretary and Braintree MP, called for the Wethersfield site to he be shut down \u201cnow \u2013 before it gets even worse\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst I was Home Secretary, numbers at Wethersfield were capped to keep order and safety and protect our community,\u201d he told The i Paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabour tore up those limits, the number of asylum seekers residing at Wethersfield has doubled and chaos has followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Labour Government has lost control of our borders and Wethersfield is overflowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her spending review, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said stopping taxpayer-funded hotels by 2029 would save \u00a31bn.<\/p>\n

The Government has now closed the Bibby Stockholm barge, and scrapped plans to use another ex-RAF base, Scampton in Lincolnshire as sites to hold thousands of asylum seekers.<\/p>\n

A Home Office spokesperson said: \u201cAll sites comply with safety, security, health and wellbeing standards. Procedures are in place to fix maintenance and safety issues quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clearsprings was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photos and videos from the former military base Wethersfield show rodents and broken toilets\u00a0 \u00a0 Footage captured at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,290,90,56,54,55,109822],"class_list":["post-266014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-migrants","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wethersfield"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}