Highland barracks' role in resettling Afghans to end

The 140-year-old Cameron Barracks in Inverness is to be phased out from use as a place for housing Afghans who risked their lives helping the UK armed forces.

The UK was part of a US-led military coalition which withdraw from Afghanistan in August 2021 after 20 years of conflict.

Cameron Barracks has been used as temporary accommodation for families relocated to the UK under the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP).

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the barracks, along with other military sites, were being returned to full use by the armed forces due to heightened global tensions.

Eleven families from Afghanistan have been relocated to the Highland Council area since December 2023.

The local authority said the MoD had offered eight homes it owns as alternative temporary accommodation to the former army depot.

MoD sites have been used as transitional accommodation since 2021 when the UK government's resettlement programme started.

Families are provided with temporary housing for a maximum of nine months while more permanent homes are found for them.

Afghans supported UK armed forces personnel in various roles, including as interpreters.

The MoD said Cameron Barracks, and its other properties, had offered a "safe, interim" solution.

But UK ministers decided last December that use of the barracks and other MoD bases would be reduced, and replaced by hotels and rented accommodation.

An MoD spokesperson said: "The defence estate is not an enduring solution and must return to its original purpose – to accommodate our armed forces and their families, and to combat the acute threats and destabilising behaviour of our adversaries."

In December, senior military figures warned that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea posed an increasing threat to UK security.

A report to Highland Council's housing and property committee said Cameron Barracks was expected to be phased out of use over the spring and summer.

A spokesperson said Highland, like all Scottish councils, would continue discussions with local authorities body Cosla on how humanitarian and resettlement programmes could be delivered in the coming months.

They said: "The Home Office is the lead agency for refugee resettlement and Highland will await further announcements in due course on this issue."

The main focus of the report is to seek councillors' support for an application for a City of Sanctuary award.

The designation, which would be sought for the whole council area, would recognise the Highlands as safe and welcoming for refugees, asylum seekers and displaced people.

Highland Council has housed families from Syria and Ukraine.

Edinburgh and Glasgow are part of the City of Sanctuary network.

Highland's housing and property committee is due to discuss a bid at a meeting next week.

Cameron Barracks on the city's Perth road was opened in 1884 as an infantry depot.

For years it served as a base for the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders.

In the past, soldiers complained about the barracks' poor drains and they required "frequent clearing".