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WATCH: Fareham campaigner declares he is 'very pleased' after migrant housing scheme is scrapped
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Apr 4, 2025
A campaign organiser has hailed a Home Office U-turn as "power to the people" after plans to house migrants in a luxury apartment block in Fareham has been scrapped.Fareham Borough Council was informed that the Government would not be proceeding with the proposal to procure Wates House apartment block, after extensive protests by locals and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.FULL STORY HERE.
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Earlier today, the former Home Secretary, Suala Braverman
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made this announcement to her constituents in Fairham. I have been informed by the Home Office today
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that they are no longer attempting to accommodate asylum seekers at Waits House
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Yes, the Home Office is pulling out of Waits House. Well, this significant U-turn from the Home Office
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comes after local residents' campaigns strongly against this building being used to house asylum seekers
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And we can now speak with one of the campaign organizers, Chris Douglas
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Chris, welcome to GB News today. Waits House, of course. We have some pictures to put on screen so viewers can see
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There's no other way of describing it. It's a country pile. It's a luxury mansion
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the kind of place that most Brits could never dream about staying a night in
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let alone being gifted to live in full time. I bet that was the position that seemed to be taken by the Home Office
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Asylum seekers, illegal immigrants were going to be put into there. Chris, you organised a campaign against it, and now you're victorious
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Power to the people, mine. Power to the people. Mate, we're celebrating down in Fairham here at the moment
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What a great result And this really is down to the people of Fairham and Wellington continuously I would not say harassing but speaking to authorities and telling them we
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weren't happy. We were not going to be silenced. We were not going to be told that we were going
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to stand down. We were not going to be told it's pointless. We knew right from the start that we
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didn't want White House. We didn't want it filled up with illegal, undocumented, unvetted migrants
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and we worked and we toiled. And yesterday we got the fantastic news
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from Fairborough Council that the Home Office have pulled out. Martin, we're very pleased
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It's going to be a great weekend. Now, Chris Douglas, it's also worth pointing out
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that you've been resolute in the fact you want people in the local area who are homeless
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who are disadvantaged to be taken care of. This is not nimbyism
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This is not you saying you don't want anybody with social issues in the area
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is specifically a matter of the fact you believe that local people have been overlooked
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and often in your area, people can't even afford to buy a house. People are struggling to get on the property ladder
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Homeless people locally aren't being taken care of, and look at this place
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It's an absolute life of Riley. And, Chris Douglas, you said from the beginning
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this isn't about being racist. It's not about being nimbus. It's about actually putting British people first
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No, it's not about being right-wing. It's not about being racist or bigoted, but we were tarnished with that from every authority we spoke to Martin This wasn a case of local communities standing up because we had a safeguarding issue for our family and young people yet we had the left wing coming to us like a tidal wave
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All sorts of insults and an awful sort of word said about those who wanted to protect the area
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It's a beautiful building, it's a lovely part of Hampshire, just outside Wellington, and it has to go to local people
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Whether that's young people, whether that's military people, that's people on the social housing list
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We don't care. Just don't put illegal migrants in there. I had a young lady phone me up a month ago in tears
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because she had to walk past that place six times a day to take her children to school and bring them back to school
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She was in tears to me yesterday as well. Tears of happiness, Martin
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Overjoyed that she could now walk past there with her children without the fear of being accotted by people who she didn't know
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Regardless of where they come from in the world, It doesn't matter where they come from. If people are unvetted, undocumented
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you don't know where their backgrounds are, you don't want them in the community. End of story
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We worked hard. We battled. It says, Churchill once said, success is not final
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failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts. And that's what we've done
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We didn't give up. When we were told to sit down, be quiet, it's not going to make any difference what we're doing
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We continued. We continued to continue. Thank you to Shuela She done a fantastic job But I do believe that if it wasn for the patriots of Fairham Aldershot Portsmouth and Bournemouth coming together as a united front this wouldn have happened if we seen migrants going in
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It really is a great thing for showing people power. And I say to the rest of the country, don't sit back and allow this to happen to you
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Stand up, be heard. You have a right. And the louder you shout, the more you'll be heard
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It's a great result. We're very, very pleased. And we hope that the migrants that were supposed to come to Wake's house
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don't get moved somewhere else locally. We're keeping an eye on that. We're aware that might happen
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I'm sure Suella would keep us in the loop if that did happen. Great news. Yes, indeed
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OK, and the local Suella Braverman has been urging the local council
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to try and do something positive for local homeless, for people with social disadvantages in the area
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Just a straight stress once again, beg your pardon, Chris Douglas. This is not about nimbyism
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It's about knowing who's there, and you've maintained all along, it's about helping the disadvantaged people in Britain first
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That was always your position, just to be absolutely clear. This is not about being exclusionary or narrow-minded or right-wing
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None of that. This is just about making sure that the people who deserve help get it
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And you believe that was locals first. Thank you very much for joining us today. That's the campaign organiser down there in Fairham, Chris Douglas
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My name is Go. Thank you very much for joining us on the show today
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