CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a massive asylum seekers centre in a Worcestershire village have been approved by the Home Office, according to Whitehall insiders.

MP Peter Luff was today seeking "urgent clarification" of reports RAF Throckmorton has been selected from a shortlist of potential locations for the accommodation centre.

But, he said, the leaked information appeared to be "authoritative" and confirmed what he had feared since a meeting with Asylum Minister Lord Rooker last week.

"We have to be realistic now and shift our focus to defeating this at a public inquiry," said the Mid-Worcestershire MP.

"We will fight extremely hard."

An official announcement on the location of the 750-bed centres is due by Thursday, May 23, when Parliament rises for a two-week recess.

But Home Office officials have already selected three sites from a shortlist of eight, according to Sunday newspaper reports.

These are RAF Throckmorton, RAF Newton, in Nottinghamshire, and Ministry of Defence land at Bicester, in Oxfordshire.

Mr Luff said he would table written Parliamentary questions asking Ministers to confirm whether or not a decision had been reached.

"This is further confirmation of what I already suspected, in view of the detailed work which already appears to have been done at the site by the Home Office," he said.

"We know detailed negotiations are taking place over the access road that will have to be built off the Wyre Piddle by-pass and, certainly, Wychavon District Council planning department is of the view they have done a great deal of preparatory work.

"They have done more than would have been the case if they were not proceeding with the site."

The plan to house asylum seekers at Throckmorton while their cases are being considered has outraged residents and charity groups.

They argue it is unfair on local people and the asylum seekers themselves as the site is "unsuitable".

"First of all, we haven't yet heard the official announcement as to which sites are going to be used and we're still waiting for that," said Worcestershire county councillor Liz Tucker.

"If the official route for information is through the Sunday papers rather than local people then it's a disgrace."

A Home Office spokesman today insisted the reports were "speculation".

"We have announced we will make a decision before the end of this Parliamentary session," she said.