All challenges against government plans to use RAF bases to house asylum seekers thrown out
One of the sites, the disused RAF Scampton, was the former home of the Red Arrows aerobatics display team and the Dambusters - the squadron that carried out one of the Second World War's most famous air raids.
Wednesday 6 December 2023 17:25, UK
All challenges against government plans to use former RAF bases to house asylum seekers have been dismissed at the High Court.
West Lindsey District Council, Lincolnshire, claimed the government's plans to use the disused RAF Scampton airfield - the former home of the Dambusters - were unlawful.
Braintree District Council, along with a private resident, made similar complaints about plans for land that once formed part of another base, RAF Wethersfield, in Essex.
High Court judge, Mrs Justice Thornton, dismissed the three claims for a judicial review.
In her judgment, she said the government's use of emergency powers to change the legal purpose of the land to house asylum seekers was appropriate given its argument that they could become destitute if more accommodation was not found beyond the use of hotels.
Sir Edward Leigh, the MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, said he was "disappointed by the result."
"I understand West Lindsey intends to appeal and has solid grounds for doing so. They have my full support and the stop notices remain in place," he said in a post on X.
"All this could take months. I urge the Home Office to compromise and resolve this soon so that the regeneration of this important and historic base can start now."
The leader of Braintree District Council, Graham Butland, said the authority was "disappointed" by the judgment.
"We have worked since March to make a strong case to the court that the Home Office acted unlawfully when making the decision to use RAF Wethersfield to house asylum seekers," he said.
"We are of course disappointed with this outcome after months of work to present our case and evidence as we still believe it isn't an appropriate site for a development of this scale given its remote location and the lack of capacity in local services."
This was not a straightforward case for the government - but the judgement was clear-cut
For a government trying to hold together a divided party (and the jury is still out) over its legal and illegal migration plans: today, a small slice of good news in court.
Controversial plans to house asylum seekers at disused military sites at RAF Scampton and Wethersfield have been given the go ahead.
A decision against the government would have been another embarrassing blow for the Home Office, whose pledge to end the use of migrant hotels has faced several stumbling blocks (legal challenges, protests, a legionella outbreak on the Bibby Stockholm barge - to name but a few).
This case was not straightforward. The central question was about whether the need to house asylum seekers at the military sites was a genuine emergency, and therefore complied with special planning laws. The judgement though is clear-cut.
There could yet be more legal process (the council have been granted the right to appeal), but in many ways the Home Office agenda and media have already moved on: there is a new Home Secretary, Rwanda legislation is expected shortly and continues to dominate the agenda.
Moving asylum seekers out of hotels is a small part of the problems on James Cleverly's mind.
At a previous hearing at the High Court, lawyers representing the councils complained about the Home Office's use of planning rules known as "permitted development rights" - which allow for the legal use of a piece of land to be changed without a local authority's permission.
They argued ministers could not rely on these rights for the plans because there was no "emergency".
Lawyers also raised concerns about migrants being housed for longer than an initially envisaged 12-month period.
However, the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contested the claims, arguing that the number of asylum seekers requiring accommodation had reached "unprecedented levels" since the COVID-19 pandemic.
RAF Scampton, near Lincoln, is the former home of the Red Arrows aerobatics display team and the Dambusters - the squadron that carried out one of the Second World War's most famous air raids.
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Nineteen Lancaster bombers, crewed by 133 airmen, took part in the raid - named Operation Chastise - on the night of 16-17 May 1943.
Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the raid targeted three dams in the industrialised Ruhr region of Germany using the "bouncing bomb" invented by Barnes Wallis.
They successfully breached the Mohne and Eder dams, and the Sorpe was damaged.