Small boats crisis: council loses bid to pause Home Office building asylum seeker housing at RAF Scampton

A council which taken its objections against the Home Office's plan to house asylum-seekers on land which used to be part of one of Britain’s most famous RAF bases to court has lost a bid to pause the operation.

West Lindsey District Council has taken legal action against Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s controversial plans for land owned by the Ministry of Defence at RAF Scampton, in Lincolnshire. It comes as the new Illegal Migration Bill makes its way through the House Lords, in a bid to stop what they claim is an influx of migrants arriving illegally via methods like small boats.

The council asked a High Court judge to impose an interim injunction, preventing the Home Office moving “materials, equipment or people” onto the RAF Scampton site, until a final ruling was made. But Justice Kerr dismissed the council’s application after considering arguments from lawyers representing both sides at a hearing in London.

The council, which is the local planning authority, began legal action after the government announced plans to use a “portion of land” at the former air base for the housing of asylum-seekers earlier this year.

It argued that plans to house asylum-seekers at Scampton did not take account of proposals to regenerate the site, and were irrational. It also said there was “no emergency”.

Paul Brown KC, who led the Home Secretary’s legal team, told the judge that ministers had a duty to house asylum-seekers who would otherwise be destitute. He said the number of asylum-seekers needing accommodation was at “record levels”, and the proposed use of the site was permitted under town and country planning rules.

Justice Kerr indicated that judges would now have to consider the next stage of the litigation, whether the council had an arguable case, and whether a trial should be held.

An Essex council is involved in similar legal action. Braintree District Council says it aims to appeal after losing a High Court fight over Home Office proposals to house asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield.

The government announced in late March that thousands of asylum seekers could be housed in disused military bases, under new plans to cut spending on hotels. Ministers said the bases will be used to accommodate their “essential living needs and nothing more”, despite legal threats from local Conservatives.

But human rights charities slammed the plan, saying arguing that they are “unsuitable” and “inappropriate” for people who have arrived in the UK in search of a safe haven. Alex Fraser, the British Red Cross’s UK director for refugee support, told NationalWorld that military sites could “re-traumatise” vulnerable men and women.