Last week I visited Farnborough, just outside the M25. It has a population of just under 60,000, and in 2021 was declared one of the top ten ‘property supply shortage hotspots’ by Rightmove.

Yet in the last few weeks, the Home Office quietly took over an entire multi-million-pound apartment complex to house what was expected to be around 300 asylum seekers from the end of the month.

The one, two and three bedroom flats, worth £1,400PCM each, were taken off the market indefinitely at the start of the year, with residents in the adjacent building only informed after the Home Office had already made up its mind.

Despite the Conservative-led Rushmoor Borough Council’s objections, it was seemingly too late. “The Home Office is the Home Office,” as one Councillor put it.

A Home Office spokesperson sent GB News a boilerplate comment: “We have always been upfront about the unprecedented pressure being put on our asylum system, brought about by a significant increase in dangerous and illegal journeys into the country over recent years.

“We continue to work across Government and with local authorities to identify a range of accommodation options to reduce the unacceptable use of hotels which cost £8million a day.”

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In this case, the best option appeared to be snatching hundreds of brand-new apartments without really telling anybody; an inevitable consequence of seeing net migration rise to over 700,000 a year while building around 200,000 houses. It is a problem of their own making.

Furniture and bedding had already arrived at the premises when we arrived. The residents in the nearby apartment block were furious, and the Conservative Councillors representing the ward told me that while they “firmly believed that the properties in Rushmoor should be for the local people at the moment”, they were effectively powerless to stop it.

The Home Office knew this would be unpopular. That’s why, except for the residents in the adjacent block, the local community was kept in the dark. Those we spoke to last week said they were unaware of the plan – and when they found out, it was obvious why the Government had been so coy. The anger was palpable.

We covered the story on the channel last Thursday, showing viewers the plush interiors of the flats, the reactions from the indignant locals, and the constituency staff of Leo Docherty MP refusing to open the door to us when we paid a visit (we tried calling first, to no avail). As Farnborough resident Chris Wilson told us, it looked like we were witnessing a “fait accompli”.