GOVERNMENT Minister Angela Eagle has resisted strong demands to dump plans to build a "prison without walls" for asylum seekers in Worcestershire.

She also refused to pay compensation to householders who fear the value of their homes will be "decimated" by siting a 750-bed accommodation centre at RAF Throckmorton.

In a House of Commons debate, mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff said it was not too late for the Government to admit it was "wrong" and scrap the plans.

"As Oliver Cromwell famously said to the general assembly of the Kirk of Scotland in August 1650: 'I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you might be mistaken,' he said.

"To put that more prosaically, 'If you're in a hole, stop digging.'

Dangerous mix

"Those of us who are looking at these developments from the outside think that the Government's asylum policy looks like a dangerous mix of back-of-the-envelope calculations and panic."

Mr Luff repeated his argument that it was unfair to put asylum seekers in the middle of a rural community, and unfair on the residents themselves - who have already put up with a foot-and-mouth burial dump and landfill site.

"The simple truth is that these large accommodation centres are a recipe for tension, and a trial that is doomed to fail," he said.

"The larger the centre, the harder it is to manage. Located in remote rural areas, such centres are like prisons without walls."

Mr Luff, who was backed by West Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer, also forcefully repeated his demands for compensation for householders living close to the site.

"The property market in Throckmorton has been decimated by the decision, houses in the village can no longer be sold."

Ms Eagle insisted the Government would go ahead with the centre, which is a cornerstone of the Home Office's new asylum strategy.

She also stated that paying compensation to worried residents would "not be appropriate."

"There would be implications for all sorts of things the Government might wish to do if such offers were made," she said.

But, in one concession, she did promise Wychavon District Council would have 16 weeks to consider the scheme.

It had been rumoured the council would have only eight weeks to reach a verdict on the proposal.

City MP Mike Foster and Redditch MP Jacqui Smith also attended the debate, which lasted for 30 minutes.