Council in legal battle to block ’emergency’ asylum centre near Essex airfield

A council has told how it plans to block ’emergency’ Government plans for an asylum centre at a former RAF airfield, in a landmark court hearing.

Braintree District Council is bringing legal action over the proposed use of RAF Wethersfield in Essex.

The Government has proposed to use the airfield to house up to 1,700 asylum seekers for up to 180 days each.

Both RAF Scampton, home of the Dambusters during the Second World War, in Lincolnshire and MDP Wethersfield in Braintree are set to be used.

Each site will have the capacity to house 1,500-2,000 migrants, and initially are more likely to be used for new arrivals rather than to rehouse people currently in hotels.

The UK government has said it is spending £6.2m a day on hotels for asylum seekers, housing more than 51,000 people at 400 hotels across the country.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the local authority asked for an injunction preventing the use of the site to house asylum seekers.

The Home Office and Ministry of Defence (MoD) are opposing the injunction, with the Home Office’s lawyers asking for the case to be thrown out.

Wayne Beglan, for the council, told the High Court in London the plans would be a breach of planning control and the provision that would be used by the Government is designed to address emergencies.

‘It is, at its core, something that happens on a sudden and unexpected basis and has to be catered for,’ Mr Beglan said.

The MoD-owned land was one of the sites identified when immigration minister Robert Jenrick unveiled plans last month to house asylum seekers in disused military bases to reduce reliance on hotels.

Mr Jenrick previously said the sites are ‘undoubtedly in the national interest’ and said only ‘single adult males’ will be put into the barracks, as he seeks to reduce a hotel bill he put at £2.3 billion a year.

The court was told the planning provision – known as Class Q – covers the change of use of some government land by the Crown to prevent or mitigate an emergency which ‘threatens serious damage to human welfare’.

Last month Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, unveiled the proposals to reduce reliance on hotels.

In a previous statement, the council said: ‘We remain of the view that Wethersfield Airfield is an unsuitable site to house asylum seekers, given the lack of capacity in local services, its isolated location and the fact that the scale of the development proposed could have a significant impact upon the local community.’

The council has also said that the Home Office has agreed not to move any migrants onto the site until after the hearing and if they successfully defend against the injunction.

Mr Jenrick has previously said the sites are ‘undoubtedly in the national interest’ and said ‘single adult males’ only will be put into the barracks, as he seeks to reduce a hotel bill he put at £2.3 billion a year.

Around 700 people already live in homes bordering RAF Scampton, which was previously home to the Red Arrows and the Dambusters 617 squadron in the Second World War, have voiced other concerns.

They said they worry their limited local amenities will be overwhelmed if the plans go ahead.

Rachel Green, a resident on the site for 22 years, said: ‘My main concern is security. We’ve got a lot of young families here with lots of children about.

‘The fence is not secure, and even if the fence was secure, it is said they’ll be able to roam free and this is where they’ll come because it’s 100 yards out of the front entrance from the camp to the housing estate. We don’t feel secure.’

Sir Edward Leigh and Karl McCartney, MPs for Gainsborough and Lincoln respectively, have both previously voiced opposition to the plans, which have been described as ‘grossly inadequate’ by refugee charities.

The hearing comes after Home Office figures published on Tuesday confirmed the provisional total number of people who arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel to date in 2023 now stands at 5,049.

The cumulative number of Channel crossings this year is currently running below the level for 2022.

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