A residents' group has failed in its bid to challenge the Home Office in the High Court over the use of an ex-army barracks as a migrant camp.
Crowborough Shield took the legal action after the government announced in October it was considering housing 540 men on the site in their namesake East Sussex town.
The Home Office proceeded with the plans regardless, moving in 27 men last month despite protests in the town and council opposition.
By then, the community organisation had already launched their legal challenge, in December, before the decision to go ahead with the scheme had been made.
Barristers for the group said at a hearing in London on Wednesday their clients 'challenged the process for the authorisation' of the 'unlawful' decision.
They asked a judge at the Royal Courts of Justice to allow the organisation's claim to proceed to a full hearing.
Alex Goodman KC, for the group, said in written submissions: 'The claim, in an orthodox way, sought to challenge a process while it was in train with a view to preventing a public authority from acting unlawfully.'
But lawyers for the Home Office argued the bid was 'totally without merit' and 'premature' - which Mr Justice Mould agreed with in a ruling on Friday.
Crowborough Shield has since said it plans to launch a new claim by Wednesday, the deadline for submitting a further challenge.
Speaking on behalf of the group after the ruling, member Matthew Shankland said: 'We believe that issuing this claim when we did was the only available course for our community.
'Our current inclination is to recommence proceedings next week.'
James Strachan KC, for the Home Office, called the group's initial challenge 'totally without merit' in written submissions to the court on Friday.
He said: 'The simple and clear position is that this claim is misconceived in challenging a decision which had not been taken.'
The judge agreed, saying the group's bid was 'indeed premature' as it was filed before the government decided to go ahead with plans to use the site in January.
He said at the point it was launched, there was 'no clearly determined policy to use the camp' to house asylum seekers.
By contrast, there 'would be no real prejudice', he said, to the group or anyone else, to bring a legal challenge 'against the actual decision made'.
Mr Justice Mould also said the bid was 'based on a series of assumptions and, to a significant degree, speculative', adding the group had 'jumped the gun'.
He even went as far as to say once the Home Office made its decision in January, the legal claim 'should have been discontinued'.
The judge said he could 'form no real understanding as to why it was not done'.
But Mr Justice Mould conceded the department’s January move was 'at least in principle' open to a legal challenge.
He said: 'There would be no real prejudice to the claimant, or any other putative claimants, in bringing judicial review proceedings against the actual decision made.'
After the ruling, Crowborough Shield member Mr Shankland told reporters outside court the group had already spent more than £100,000 on legal fees.
He said a new claim could see it pay 'possibly the same again'.
Mr Shankland also said it was 'plain as a matter of practical reality' that the Home Office had decided to use the site before January.
He urged Wealden District Council, which has also previously opposed the use of the ex-barracks as a migrant camp, to 'join with us' in the new legal challenge.
Kim Bailey, director and chairwoman of the group, said a second claim would have a 'cost impact'.
She said: 'That is something I will take forward with the community, because essentially it is their decision whether they want to take this further forward.
'But we will be issuing again, before Wednesday.'
The Crowborough site has been given to the Home Office by the Ministry of Defence for a year.
It was previously used to accommodate Afghan families evacuated during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021 while they were resettled elsewhere.
In January, the Home Office said the site has 24/7 security with CCTV and strict sign-in processes for residents, who undergo pre-arrival health and police checks.
The government's announcement about Crowborough in October came as it sought to use the end of hotels to house asylum seekers.
It also said last year it plans to use Cameron Barracks in Inverness in the Highlands as migrant accommodation for the same reason.
The failed High Court challenge comes just after council bosses said the number of male migrants at the Crowborough barracks had doubled.
Officials said last week the number of residents had increased from 27 to 80 since January 22, when the first group arrived under the cover of darkness.
But they refused to comment on an alleged knife attack at the site, after a health worker was taken to hospital on February 5.
Council members asked leaders for clarity on the incident at a meeting last week.
Councillor James Partridge responded to say the police had denied the incident but the Home Office had declined to comment.
'They should absolutely, within seconds, have said, "that's not true" and sadly, they won't,' said Cllr Partridge.
He said the alleged knife attack was a 'classic example' of the Home Office failing to engage with the community.
Thousands of residents in Crowborough have held peaceful protests every Sunday since the Home Office announced its plans last October.
The site, which is run by Clearsprings Ready Homes, was previously used by the MoD to train cadets.
The migrants are required to sign in and out at the front gate.
Data released by the department on Thursday showed the number of asylum seekers temporarily housed in UK hotels has fallen to its lowest level for 18 months.
There were 30,657 people staying in such accommodation while awaiting a decision on their asylum claims at the end of December.
This marks a 15 per cent drop on the previous quarter.
The number of people in so-called contingency accommodation other than hotels had also fallen to its lowest level since the end of December 2022.
Some 2,010 individuals were living in this sort of facility, which could include barracks, at the end of December.
Other Government data showed a fall in the number of people applying for asylum in the UK.
It also showed the asylum backlog had dropped to its lowest level in more than five years.
Crowborough Shield has been contacted for comment.