Scrutiny voted 7 to 2 to take no further action on the £450,000 army camp grant call-in, so a £170,000 Crowborough fund and £50,000 for the town council stand.

Wealden’s plan for up to £450,000 of Home Office money linked to Crowborough Army Camp can now go ahead unchanged. The council’s Scrutiny and Performance Committee voted on Tuesday 20 October to take no further action on a call-in of the decision.

On the council’s webcast, seven councillors voted for no further action, two voted against and two abstained. (Wealden, webcast of the meeting)

The minutes are not yet published, and the council’s decision record still showed the item as “Item Called In” on Wednesday morning. (Wealden, decision details)

What was decided

Five councillors from the Wealden Partners group called in the Cabinet decision of 7 October. They said it fell short on openness, clarity, reasonableness and the record of options considered. We set out the call-in in full last week.

The committee had three choices: take no further action, send the decision back to Cabinet, or refer it to Full Council. (Report for call-in of Cabinet decision)

Two motions were tabled during the meeting, which lasted almost two hours:

  • No further action, proposed by Councillor Ben Cox and seconded by Councillor Christina Coleman
  • Back to Cabinet, proposed by the chair, Councillor Andrew Wilson, and seconded by Councillor Michael Lunn

The first motion was voted on first because it was tabled first. It passed, so the second was never put to the vote.

The money that is now released

Bar chart of Wealden's earmarks from the army camp grant for 2026/27: Crowborough Community Investment Fund £110,000, Migrant Help £100,000, cadet facilities at the camp £100,000, SAMAS £90,000, Crowborough Town Council £50,000. The community fund gets a further £60,000 from unspent ward budgets.
The five earmarks Cabinet agreed on 7 October, totalling £450,000. Chart by Crowborough Today
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  • £110,000 to a new Crowborough Community Investment Fund, topped up to £170,000 with £60,000 of unspent ward budget money
  • £100,000 for facilities at the camp, to be kept afterwards for the RAF and Army cadets
  • £50,000 to Crowborough Town Council for extra staff
  • £100,000 to Migrant Help
  • £90,000 to SAMAS, for English lessons, music, art and sport at the camp

(Wealden District Council, 7 October 2026)

The argument in the room

Councillor Lunn opened for the five signatories. He said the call-in was not brought “to challenge the principle of supporting vulnerable people”. His question was whether Cabinet had enough information to make a fully informed decision.

Councillor Rachel Millward, the council leader, answered for Cabinet. She described the council as “simply a clearing bank” for Home Office money, which has to be spent under the Home Office’s rules or paid back. She said the exact total is not yet known, because the grant is paid per head and the number of people at the camp keeps changing. Detailed grant agreements, with due diligence, come next.

The main dispute was over Crowborough Town Council’s £50,000:

  • Councillor Wilson, who represents Crowborough South East, wanted Cabinet to look again at that sum, including paying for the town’s CCTV
  • he said he had been told the town council felt it was “begging for money” and that CCTV had not been discussed, and offered to pass on his sources privately
  • Councillor Martyn Everitt said the CCTV was reinstated to combat the fear of crime, and that the protests were the main reason for it
  • Councillor Millward said the conversations with the town council were not over and the sums were allocations, so the town council could ask for more

These accounts come from the council’s own webcast. The minutes will be the formal record, and we will check them against this report when they are published.

What it means for you

  • Local groups: the £170,000 Crowborough Community Investment Fund can now be set up. Its rules and how to apply have not been published yet. Councillor Millward urged Crowborough councillors to encourage local organisations to apply.
  • Cadet families: the £100,000 for facilities at the camp, which the cadets keep afterwards, is no longer on hold. £10,000 of the community fund is also pencilled in for the town’s cadet associations.
  • Town council budget: the £50,000 stands for now. The council leader said more could follow if needs are shown.

The committee’s next meeting is on Monday 9 November at 2pm, not the usual 10am, at the Civic Hall in Hailsham, about 14 miles south of Crowborough. (Wealden, Scrutiny and Performance Committee agenda)