Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,The decision met with protests and opposition from the council
ByCharlie Rose
South East home affairs correspondent
The Home Office did not act in secrecy over its decision to house asylum seekers at a former military training camp in East Sussex and engaged with relevant bodies beforehand and afterwards, the High Court has heard.
Community interest company Crowborough Shield is taking legal action over the government's use of Crowborough Training Camp to house up to 540 men.
The group claims the Home Office failed to exercise its powers with the openness required.
James Strachan KC, for the Home Office, said the Secretary of State engaged with the police, NHS and councils and once the decision was taken, a forum was established for people to address any issues.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption,Protests have been held over plans to use Crowborough Training Camp as asylum housing
During the second day of the two-day hearing, the court also heard arguments over the home secretary's use of emergency powers to move asylum seekers to Crowborough.
Earlier, Alex Goodman KC, for Crowborough Shield, said the Home Office wrongly decided the need to accommodate asylum seekers constituted an "emergency" under planning rules, meaning it was automatically granted permission to develop the site.
But on Wednesday, Strachan told the court the definition of an emergency was an event or situation that threatened serious damage to human welfare such as homelessness, injury, or damage to property.
Strachan said the home secretary was responding to a statutory duty to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute and homeless, but Goodman asked: "Are we faced here with an emergency which may cause homelessness?"
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,The site was previously used as a Ministry of Defence training camp
The Home Office announced plans for the site last October before confirming the move in January, sparking protests in the town.
Crowborough Shield filed a legal challenge in December, but it was dismissed in February because it was filed before the government decided to proceed with the plans. The Honourable Mr Justice Mould said that the decision was "at least in principle" open to challenge.
The Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are opposing the challenge.
At the conclusion of the hearing on Wednesday, Mr Justice Mould said he would hand down his judgement at a later date.
He said: "I need to take some time to reflect on the arguments I've heard and read."
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