Norfolk County Council voted 43 to 27 to formally object to the Home Office's proposal to convert RAF Barnham into an asylum accommodation site, following concerns about the impact on communities close to the Suffolk-Norfolk border.

The site, which the Home Office plans to use for a minimum of ten years, sits approximately one mile from Thetford. According to details revealed by Home Office officials at a meeting with council leadership on 5 August, those accommodated would be exclusively men who arrived in the UK by boat, with no maximum cap on numbers.

The Leader of the Council had already written to the Home Secretary in July to lodge the council's objections. The motion, proposed by Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health Cllr Scott Hussey, also noted that Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies had made joint representations to policing ministers about the operational implications — including the loss of the site's public order training function.

Council has asked Cabinet to receive a report by 5 October assessing the financial and service impact on Norfolk County Council, covering adult social care, public health, fire and rescue, highways, and implications for Norfolk Constabulary.

The council also resolved to continue working with Suffolk County Council, West Suffolk Council, Breckland District Council, and Thetford Town Council on a unified response, and formally recognised residents' right to protest lawfully and peacefully on the issue.