THE owner of a disused country club has offered her land to the Home Office for use as a detention centre for asylum seekers.

The seven-acre green belt site at Glazebrook was a transit camp for American and Canadian troops in the Second World War, but now stands derelict.

The only remaining building is the former Glazebrook Country Club, which closed nine years ago.

Now, club owner Christine Lucas has written to Home Secretary Jack Straw offering the site as a possible location for a centre where up to 450 detainees can await the outcome of their appeals.

Warrington is rumoured to be favoured by immigration officials looking to locate a centre between Manchester and Liverpool, where most of the north west's asylum seekers are housed.

Mrs Lucas said: "When I heard the Government was searching for suitable sites in the north west, it seemed the ideal place.

"It is situated on a rail and motorway link and remains largely the same as it was when it was first built.

"I'd be happy to see it back in use. Myself and the other landowners on the site are interested in linking our land up so that it can be a whole encampment again."

The club, which can hold 2,000 people, was closed in 1991 after an electrical fault destroyed two thirds of its electricity circuit.

Mrs Lucas has been refused planning consent for a house on the site and her attempts to re-open the club have been thwarted by vandals.

Boasting two squash courts, a gymnasium, saunas and a bar and restaurant, the building was once an entertainment centre for the troops and even saw Marilyn Monroe perform there.

Mrs Lucas is desperate to make some income from the club and says it could be salvaged by the Home Office.

She said: "I think these centres are a good idea. Some asylum seekers have been violently attacked, but in a complex, they're protected from this vigilante attitude.

"It will give people self-respect while they are waiting for their applications to be considered."

But Peter Fillery, of Glazebrook Action Group, said: "This is not a feasible use for the site and we would strenuously oppose it.

"These people must be put somewhere, but it needs to be somewhere with better access. There are no windows in the clubhouse - it's all bricked up.

"Presumably there would be army-type trucks bringing people, furniture and staff and it would certainly disturb people in the centre of the village.

"In the Local Plan, the inspector said that Glazebrook should not be built on because it was one of the last green belt sites between Manchester and Warrington."

But Mrs Lucas said: "Nearby residents have never been agreeable to developments on this land and I imagine they'll be horrified.

"But I don't see any difference between an army camp and a detention centre.

"I can't see these asylum seekers having cars and they won't be coming home drunk and disorderly."

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