MINISTERS have not ruled out scaling down the size of the massive asylum seeker accommodation centres they are planning to build - including one at RAF Throckmorton.

The Home Office has confirmed it is considering Refugee Council proposals for smaller accommodation centres.

But Asylum Minister Bev Hughes said it was highly unlikely they would be as small as the 200-bed units the council has suggested.

Ministers also hardened their stance that rural areas such as Throckmorton should now be prepared to take their share of responsibility for refugees.

The comments were made in a meeting of the Home affairs Select Committee at Westminster yesterday.

Ms Hughes, who was flanked by Home Secretary David Blunkett, said: "Seven hundred and fifty places is not written in tablets of stone and I am looking at other types of location.

"I certainly do not have my mind closed to what the council is saying and we are working with them."

But she said Ministers must stick with the guiding principle that it must be large enough to accommodate school, health and other facilities under one roof.

She suggested the size of centre being put forward by the council would not meet this criteria.

Meanwhile, Mr Blunkett appeared to pour scorn on the council's suggestion that the smaller centres should be in inner city areas.

He admitted disadvantaged areas - such as his own Sheffield constituency - could provide accommodation for asylum seekers in empty houses, had places in schools because parents did not wish to send their children there, and had space on GP lists.

But he said these factors did not mean it was right for disadvantaged areas to always be asked to take asylum seekers.

"I can see no reason whatsoever why this should be the case," he added.

After the meeting, Home Office officials said there was no question of the Throckmorton application being shelved.

"It is vaguely encouraging the Government is thinking about scaling down the size of the centres," said Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff.

"Everybody I have spoken to thinks that 750 is just too big, and when I visited Holland I was told the optimum was between 400 and 500.

"But it is really depressing to hear Labour ministers talking about people having to take their share of responsibility.

"Throckmorton has already done that - and I am pretty sure there is not a landfill

or foot-and-mouth burial site in David Blunkett's constituency."