Two new asylum centres are proposed by the government

A public inquiry into Home Office proposals to use the 16-acre former RAF Newton base in Bingham, near Nottingham, as an asylum centre ended on Friday.

Campaigners claim local services will be unable to cope with an influx of claimants and fear the rural location will be unsuitable.

Martin Valentine, a spokesman for Rushcliffe Borough Council, which objects to the plan, said an independent report had concluded the area could not cope with a further strain on its resources.

"There are no provisions from the Home Office for the strain the centre could place on teachers, doctors and the police," said Mr Valentine.

"To say that this plan would have no impact on local services is simply misleading."

Prescott's decision We expect that to be considered for a further three months before a decision is made on the centre Home Office spokeswoman

Rushcliffe MP and former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke addressed the hearing in early April, opposing the plans to put the centre in rural Nottinghamshire.

Mr Clarke said he believed the local infrastructure would be unable to support the new-style accommodation centre.

The Home Office said the Planning Inspectorate will consider evidence for between four and six weeks, before making a recommendation to the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

"Within a month to six weeks a recommendation will be made to the Deputy Prime Minister," said a Home Office spokeswoman.

"We expect that to be considered for a further three months before a decision is made on the centre."

Keith Lindblom QC, for the Home Office, told the hearing that plans to test new style accommodation centres in Nottinghamshire and at Bicester in Oxfordshire were crucial to the reform of asylum policy.