Home Office drops controversial plan to accommodate asylum seekers on airfield

The Home Office has axed controversial plans to house asylum seekers at RAF Scampton, a disused airfield that was the focus of a series of legal challenges from West Lindsey District Council.

Eighteen months after the plan to establish a 'pathfinder' large asylum accommodation site at the former RAF Scampton was unveiled, the Home Office has announced the site will no longer be developed for this purpose as the project no longer represents value for money.

According to the Home Office, opening the site and using it until 2027 would have cost £122 million.

A total of £60 million has already been spent on the site, the Home Office said.

West Lindsey brought a judicial review challenge against the Home Office in 2023 jointly with Braintree District Council, which opposed a plan to temporarily house asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield in its region.

The local authorities argued that the Home Office's use of emergency' Class Q' permitted development rights to use the site was unlawful.

However, Mr Justice Thornton dismissed the challenge, finding the Secretary of State used the legally correct construction of emergency in the relevant emergency statement, and her reliance on Class Q was lawful.

West Lindsey, which plans to redevelop the site to celebrate its World War II history, had also pursued enforcement notices and an injunction in its effort to keep the site from being used.

Responding to the Home Office's decision to abandon plans to use the airfield, West Lindsey said

The Government, which now intends to sell the site, said it aims to clear the backlog of asylum cases in order to reduce demand for temporary asylum seeker accommodation like that planned for the airfield.

The Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle MP said: "Faster asylum processing, increased returns and tighter enforcement of immigration rules will reduce demand for accommodation like Scampton and save millions for the taxpayer as we drive forward work to clear the asylum backlog and strengthen our border security.

"We have also listened to community feedback and concerns about using this site for asylum accommodation."

The Leader of West Lindsey District Council, Cllr Trevor Young, said: "Today we can finally put to bed an incredibly difficult period for our community and focus time, energy and resource on this once in a generation opportunity to honour the heritage of this site through regeneration and the delivery of investment in jobs and skills."

Sally Grindrod-Smith, Director of Planning, Regeneration and Communities for the council, added: "Work will now progress at pace to conclude the necessary contracting arranging and secure formal, long term access to the site. In the meantime, it will be important to work with the Home Office to ensure any works already completed on site can be decommissioned and removed sensitively so as to protect the heritage of the site'."

Adam Carey