Haslar immigration centre in Gosport: Borough council meeting on car park sale is set to be held in private
Plans to sell a car park as part of an immigration centre expansion will be discussed behind closed doors.
Gosport Borough Council will meet at 6pm today to make a decision on selling the car park in Fort Road to the Home Office.
The car park is next door to the Haslar Immigration Centre and has been used temporarily by the site.
Members of the public and press will not be allowed to attend the meeting on Monday due to a proposed exclusion that cites commercial sensitivity.
Dame Caroline Dinenage, Conservative MP for Gosport, said she is “very concerned” by the move.
In a post on Facebook, she said: “I am very concerned that the Lib Dem leader of the council has now ordered a closed meeting of the policy and organisation board next Monday to discuss the disposal of this site, where local people will not be permitted to attend.”
If the land, south-east of Fort Road, is sold to the Home Office, at least 20 public parking spaces will remain available for use. Members of the public would also continue to have access to the King Charles III coastal path, which will remain public.
Dame Caroline previously said residents can soon have their say on the proposals. This is likely to be at the end of April, she said.
In relation to keeping a report into the sale exempt from public disclosure, the meeting’s agenda said “in all circumstances of the cases, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information”.