SIGNED, sealed and delivered direct to Downing Street.

The sentiments of 32,000 people were handed over to government officials yesterday as the campaign to stop 400 asylum seekers being housed at Lee-on-the-Solent went to Whitehall.

Two hundred protesters donned yellow baseball caps for the trip to the capital along with banners and whistles in a bid to make themselves heard. The message was a simple one - No asylum centre at Daedalus.

And just yards from Downing Street, the message could not have failed to get across.

However, the shine could be taken off the event after a Home Office barrister told an inquiry into an application for a similar project in Nottinghamshire that public opinion should count for little.

In his opening speech to the inquiry into plans to house 750 asylum seekers at RAF Newton, Keith Lindblom claimed the issue was whether the centres were sustainable in terms of planning, transport and infrastructure - not whether people agreed with them.

Mr Lindblom said asylum applications were rising and that asylum centres were an indispensable part of the government's asylum plan.

He added: "We do not, in any sense, seek to belittle what appear to be genuinely-held misgivings. But even if there was force in those objections they would not amount to a case anywhere near enough to outweigh the need for these centres. The needs are pressing and are not going to go away. There is an overwhelming case in the national interest for this trial to proceed."

The comments raised fears the pilot project could be steamrollered through and set a precedent for other sites such as Daedalus.

The inquiry is being watched closely as an indication of what could happen if the application proceeds with the Daedalus site, which, like RAF Newton, is an ex-MoD base.

Daedalus Action Group chairman John Beavis said: "This is simply democracy gone mad. The way the government is trying to force this policy on to local communities is totally unacceptable.

"Residents are not just going to stand by and wait for their communities to go to rack and ruin, so to be told that our opinions and feeling don't count is unbelievable."

Blair must listen to us: See today's Spotlight feature on pages 8 & 9 of the Southern Daily Echo and at http://www.thisissouthampton.co.uk/hampshire/southampton/more_news/spotlight.html.