A CAMPAIGN group fighting the proposed accommodation centre for asylum seekers in a Worcestershire village is urging thousands of people to write to the Prime Minister.

A massive letter-writing campaign is being launched by Protest at the Asylum Centre at Throckmorton (PACT) to stop the 750-bed centre being built at Throckmorton airfield.

Worcestershire County Councillor and PACT chairwoman Liz Tucker said that, if built, the accommodation centre would waste millions of pounds of Government money.

"To build a centre in an isolated rural area without support from the local community and with inadequate services is certain to fail, wasting tens of millions of pounds," she said.

She has already written to Tony Blair insisting locating a large accommodation centre in such a rural area would overwhelm the local community and services.

"The social fabric in rural areas is fragile and cannot absorb a large, sudden influx of immigrants. If Glasgow and other large cities cannot cope with large numbers of asylum seekers, the countryside certainly cannot."

Fellow PACT member Steve Mitchell said it was up to the public of Worcestershire to keep the pressure on the Government.

"The Government is still under pressure on its asylum policy," he said. "Individual letters to Government Ministers will keep up the pressure and help to influence decisions."

Hundreds of people have already signed up for the letter writing campaign and thousands more have been sent a newsletter urging them to join.

Writers are being urged not to send standard letters, but individually written letters which are polite, but demand answers.

"A paper war it may be, but Ministers and their civil servants will get the message that they have a real battle on their hands if they press ahead," said Wychavon District Councillor Malcolm Argyle.