British town to spend £450K on Pooh's birthday: Spend it on security, angry residents demand, as 540 male asylum seekers enter soon

Residents of a small British town are angry with officials who are planning to splurge £450,000 on Winnie-the-Pooh's 100th birthday, when 600 male asylum seekers are due to seek shelter at an army base nearby. The people of Crowborough, East Sussex, are worried for their safety and want authorities to use the money to restore the town centre's CCTV cameras after they were switched off last year, the Daily Mail reported. They are left befuddled to know of plans regarding Pooh's centenary celebrations amid all that is going on in the town. To draw attention to more pressing matters, around 4,000 residents marched on Sunday to protest against Home Office plans to host asylum seekers at the camp.

A completely shocked resident told the outlet, "The council says it can't do anything to stop the Home Office from housing the asylum seekers, but they can at least put in cameras to keep us safe. Instead, they're giving half a million to Winnie-the-Pooh." He added that there is "no police station" and "no cameras" in Crowborough. Notably, the Home Office will use the Army Training Camp to accommodate 540 single, adult male asylum seekers. Later, the resident learned about the non-functioning CCTV cameras. Worried residents are spending thousands to safeguard their homes.

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CCTVs in Crowborough are not working, people are worried for their safety

Meanwhile, defending the plans to splurge £450,000 on Winnie-the-Pooh's 100th birthday celebrations, Wealden District Council said that the "educational and cultural programme" was a way to promote tourism and safeguard the landscape that inspired Pooh's story. Notably, the Ashdown Forest, which surrounds the town, is the inspiration behind the Hundred Acre Wood in Winnie-the-Pooh.

Ann Newton, the Conservative Group Leader on Wealden District Council, said she has nothing against Pooh's birthday celebrations. However, spending nearly half a million pounds on it seems too much. "We don't have an ideal world or an ideal situation, and it just seems to be an awful lot of money," she told the Daily Mail. On the other hand, Liberal Democrat Councillor James Partridge defended the birthday plans. "This isn't really about Winnie-the-Pooh, but this is about Ashdown Forest, which is in our trust and we really need to look after it," he said.