Plans for a controversial accommodation centre for asylum seekers in Nottinghamshire may be abandoned, if it is rejected at a public inquiry.

The Home Office wants to house 750 asylum seekers at the former RAF base at Newton, near Bingham.

But the plan has provoked angry protests from local residents.

At a meeting with residents and local leaders on Tuesday, Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes was handed a protest petition.

Helena Geary is not convinced by the plans

She gave assurances that the proposed centre would not by-pass planning regulations.

Rushcliffe MP Kenneth Clark said after the meeting: "She promised me that she wouldn't by-pass the planning application.

"If Rushcliffe turn it down, then it is off to the inspector and a public inquiry and she assured me she would not use her legal powers to override all that."

But Helena Geary, of the Newton Action Group, said: "She keeps saying that this will work, that in other countries this is working.

"But she has to prove it to us."

'Fears unfounded'

The Newton site is one of three sites in England where the government want to build asylum centres.

The other two are at Throckmorton in Worcestershire and Bicester in Oxfordshire.

Before leaving for Westminster, the minister said that many residents' fears were unfounded.

Ms Hughes told the BBC's East Midlands Today programme: "I think the connection being made between asylum seekers and criminality is not justified.

"I think we can talk positively about asylum seekers."