RAF Barnham is understood to have become an increasing headache for the Home Office as it weighs up plans to begin moving single male migrants into the base before the end of the year. 

Insiders claim the overhaul of the ageing site, which will require a host of new accommodation units and costly sewage disposal methods, may prove to render the scheme financially unviable.

Stone-curlews, a rare bird which live near the base, may also scupper the plans (Image: Norfolk Wildlife Trust)

The Home Office also faces environmental hurdles, where protections covering rare birds nesting near the site are also likely to present a further obstacle.

Terry Jermy, the Labour MP for South West Norfolk, has regular meetings with the government over the plans and said it is “becoming increasingly clear how entirely unsuitable the site is”.

Barnham, which sits around a mile from Thetford, has been earmarked alongside two other bases - one in Yorkshire and another in Oxfordshire.

The base sits around a mile away from Thetford (Image: Henry Durand)

Ministers have said they intend to use the Suffolk base for “a minimum of 10 years".

They are relying on Urgent Crown Development powers, reserved for schemes of national significance, to bypass the normal council planning process.

However, sources close to the process say that if........

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