Home Office facing calls to shut asylum site after ‘alarming’ legionella found
The Home Office is facing calls to evacuate one of its flagship sites for housing asylum seekers after “alarming” levels of legionella bacteria were found.
Dozens of traces of the bug have been identified at RAF Wethersfield – a former military base in Essex – where some 500 asylum seekers are currently living. Data obtained by The i Paper reveals the readings of legionella discovered are at levels considered to be concerning by health experts.
Legionella is usually found in water systems and can cause Legionnaires’ disease in severe cases, which is a serious type of pneumonia that can be fatal.
Asylum seeker support groups described the disclosure as a “scandal” while Baroness Ruth Lister, vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on migration, said it was “concerning” and “alarming”. Lister said that RAF Wethersfield should be evacuated, unless the Home Office confirmed how it had dealt with the problem.
The Government said it had taken action over the bacteria but provided few details. None of the asylum seekers at Wethersfield are known to have developed symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease.
In 2023, the Bibby Stockholm barge which was being used to house asylum seekers was evacuated over an outbreak of legionella.
RAF Wethersfield was converted to asylum-seeker housing in July 2023, but has been mired in controversy since it opened.
A Freedom of Information request to the Home Office revealed that a hundred readings of legionella at a rate of 100 colony forming units (CFU) or above – the level considered concerning by experts – were found in two occupied accommodation buildings between August 2023 and October 2024.
Ninety-four of the results were in a single accommodation block, with a further six in a portacabin.
Twelve readings of 100CFU or above were also found in recreation areas on the site, 37 readings in “service buildings” and 62 in other parts of the site. More than 500 were detected in unoccupied accommodation buildings.
What is RAF Wethersfield?
The former military base was converted to asylum accommodation in 2024 in a bid to reduce the amount of money being spent on hotels, which was totalling around £8m per day.
Asylum seekers have repeatedly complained of being isolated on the 800-acre site, which is surrounded by barbed wire and located two miles from the nearest village.
Residents have staged hunger strikes and street protests over the conditions, with alleged suicide attempts by those living at the site.
In November 2023, an ambulance was called to the site an average of once a day with reports of “almost nightly” fights.
An official Government report, seen by The i Paper, warned of “unexploded ordnance”, radiation and “spills and leaks” at the site from its previous use as a military base, which it said could pose a risk to human health.
The Government has spent more than £350,000 defending the use of the site in court, The i Paper revealed last year, after four asylum seekers made a legal challenge alleging that the conditions breached their human rights. The costs are likely to increase as the case is not yet resolved.
100CFU is ‘alert level’ for legionella health risk
Adam Midson, the legionella and fire manager at Acorn Safety Services, said 100CFU was the level at which there was “a fault”, whether that be in site management or an issue that needs to be rectified.
“At a lower level, there’s still the chance of problems, but it’s manageable. The legislative guidance is 100CFU, but even if you have 10CFU, you need to start doing something about it.”
Midson said legionella could “start minimal, but left untreated or unflushed, over time it will cause massive problems”, adding: “Even a tiny bit of pipework can cause big problems.”
Matt Morse, manager of the Legionella Control Association, also said legionella over 100CFU was considered an “alert level”, where experts “sit up and take notice”.
“A hundred readings does sound like a lot, but that could well be one outlet that’s failed 100 times, or it could be 100 outlets that have failed once each.”
He added: “If it is all in one leg of the system, that’s where the risk is going to lie potentially. When it reaches 1000CFU, that’s what we consider an action level, where the system must be cleaned or disinfected.”
The number of Wethersfield test results which reached over 1000CFU is not known from the FOI data, but the Home Office confirmed it had taken “appropriate action” in line with legionella guidance, including taking advice from a water hygiene consultant.
Morse also said the legionella at Wethersfield could have spread “exponentially” in the time taken to process the test results, usually between a week and 14 days.
Some tests could also be repeat positives from the same growth of bacteria which has not been successfully cleared.
Asylum seekers ‘not told’ about legionella on site
RAF Wethersfield is currently home to approximately 500 male asylum seekers, none of whom are known to have developed symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease, the Home Office said.
The department denied there had been an outbreak of the bacteria – defined as two or more linked cases of Legionnaires’ disease – so said it had not reported the discoveries to the UK Health Security Agency.
It also said sampling is carried out frequently to closely monitor water hygiene on site.
The i Paper understands that no information has been shared with those living at the site about the discoveries.
Baroness Lister said: “These results are concerning and it is alarming. What I find particularly concerning is the lack of transparency. If the Home Office says it has taken appropriate action, I think it has a duty to say what that action is, and it has a duty to the asylum seekers, who are an extremely vulnerable group, to give them public health advice and to reassure charities who are working with those asylum seekers and give them the information they need.
“If they don’t, then one can only conclude that it isn’t safe, and therefore that the site should be evacuated.”
Care4Calais, a charity which supports people living in RAF Wethersfield, described the discovery as a “scandal” and a “shocking revelation” which added to calls for the site to be evacuated and then permanently closed.
“No communications on the positive tests were issued, and certainly no public health advice was provided to the camp’s residents. This presents a clear risk to people’s health, and the Government must come clean on the reasons why it was kept secret”, said CEO Steve Smith.
Imran Hussain, executive director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, described the test results as “very worrying”.
“The residents need to be properly informed and supported as soon as possible.
“Just like with the Bibby Stockholm, this shows serious issues with the use of large-scale accommodation sites. People seeking asylum in the UK have already experienced trauma and hardship. They deserve safe, dignified, and humane accommodation while their cases are being processed.”
The Home Office refused to comment.