Judicial review over placing asylum seekers on disused airfields to be heard next month

Braintree District Council and West Lindsey District Council have been given a hearing date for their judicial review challenge of the Home Office's decision to accommodate asylum seekers on airfields in their areas.

The High Court will hear the legal challenge over two days on 31 October and 1 November 2023.

Braintree’s challenge concerns RAF Wethersfield, a disused airfield onto which the Home Office plans to move up to 1,700 people.

West Lindsey's challenge concerns a similar Home Office scheme that will see asylum seekers moved onto another disused airfield named RAF Scampton.

Braintree will advance three grounds at the High Court, including a ground that challenges the use of Class Q permitted development rights.

The Home Office avoided having to obtain planning permission to use the two sites via Class Q, part 19, Schedule 2 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015, which allows the Government to develop Crown land in the event of an emergency.

The other two grounds concern an Environmental Impact Assessment direction and an Equality Impact Assessment.

West Lindsey was permitted to challenge the decision to use RAF Scampton for asylum seeker accommodation on two grounds, including the reliance on an Environmental Impact Assessment screening decision and the reliance on Class Q permitted development rights.

The court will hear a third challenge from a local Wethersfield resident. The resident's claim has also been given permission to be heard on the Environmental Impact Assessment and Class Q grounds.

Mrs Justice Thornton granted permission to all three claimants in July, following a multi-day permission hearing.

In a statement on the legal challenge, Cllr Graham Butland, leader of Braintree District Council, said: "We still believe Wethersfield Airfield is not a suitable site for these plans and the Home Office has failed to follow due progress in reaching its decision to use the site."

He added: "Although there is ongoing legal action, this doesn't stop the Home Office from progressing with their plans at the Wethersfield site, and we understand from the end of last week there were 94 asylum seekers on site, and this will gradually increase over time. All multi-agency partners will continue to not only provide support where needed for all asylum seekers coming into our district, but also for the wider local community too."

The update comes after the Court of Appeal dismissed a separate challenge brought by Braintree and West Lindsey that appealed a High Court judge's decision not to grant an injunction blocking the Home Office's plans to use a disused airfield to accommodate asylum seekers.

Adam Carey