Minutes of a private meeting between the Home Office and Norfolk councillors, seen by the EDP, reveal the department could not guarantee that numbers at RAF Barnham will not rise beyond the figure being put forward by the government.

Asked directly whether the number could increase, officials told councillors: "It could be a lot more.”

The base was decommissioned in 1963 (Image: Home Office/PA Wire)

The explosive admission was one of a number made by the Home Office officials over the use of the base during the meeting.

These include confirmation that public money will be spent preparing the site before ministers have made a final decision on whether it will go ahead. The department has insisted discussions are still ongoing about whether it will ultimately use the base.

Officials also confirmed no additional funding will be provided for fire and ambulance services, and that money set aside for police will not represent "a full cost recovery".

The meeting between senior Home Office officials, including the department's deputy director of asylum accommodation, took place last month.

It was held to discuss the government's plans for RAF Barnham which have caused significant concern among communities in nearby Thetford and the small village of Barnham itself.

Discussing the figures, officials described the 1,250 figure initially released to the public as an "illustration", admitting the true number could be "a lot more".

There are a number of accommodation units scattered around the site (Image: Home Office/PA Wire)

They added that the 1,250 was intended as a "ceiling number," but conceded they could not "give that as an absolute guarantee, because that could in the future be changed".

Scott Hussey, a Reform county councillor who attended the........

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