The future use of RAF Scampton as asylum seeker housing will be considered by the High Court today
It comes after West Lindsey District Council applied for a full Judicial Review, which could potentially halt the plans.
Lincolnshire’s fight against 2000 asylum seekers being housed at RAF Scampton will go to the High Court today.
West Lindsey District Council applied for a full Judicial Review, which could potentially halt the plans.
Scheduled for July 12 and 13, the case in London will hear testimonies from different members of the local authority.
The Judicial Review would challenge the Home Office decision to use RAF Scampton, claiming that they have acted unlawfully by ignoring the potentially £300m redevelopment plan.
They also believe the decision relies on a planning concept called temporary permitted development rights. This would only grant permission for much shorter time than housing is expected to be at the site.
Braintree District Council is also expected to express their stance on similar plans to house up to 1,700 migrants at RAF Wethersfield.
West Lindsey District Council have been here before. In May, the council was unsuccessful in obtaining an urgent injunction from the High Court.
It would have required the Home Office to wait while comprehensive legal challenges to the plans were examined.
Prominent figures in the ongoing fight, including Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh and Labour’s Lincoln nominee Hamish Falconer, were in court to here the disappointing news.
However, it emerged during the hearing that government officials had recommended that RAF Scampton wasn’t suitable for housing migrants. Home Secretary Suella Braverman apparently overruled them.
Since then, preparations have since commenced, with site investigators already seen at the location.
Director of Planning Regeneration and Communities at West Lindsey District Council, Sally Grindrod-Smith, said the council had been forced to take the government to court over the dispute.
“The Council does not take lightly this application for Judicial Review. However, given the impact of the Home Office plans on our £300 million investment, we have been left with no choice.”
Earlier this week, the council’s Planning Committee rejected plans to move the grave of Guy Gibson’s dog to RAF Marham, instilling a “glimmer of hope” ahead of the hearing next week, despite similar legal challenges facing obstacles elsewhere.
Scampton Councillor Roger Patterson (Conservative) referred to it as the “first victory” in the council’s campaign against the proposed changes to the cherished former airbase.
Following the meeting, he said: “On planning reasons, tonight we managed to stop the dog from being moved, and I think we’ve got enough planning reasons to go to a judicial review and more than enough planning reasons to stop this nonsense and get on with our lives.
Nevertheless, should further legal challenges prove unsuccessful, it is anticipated that the first contingent of 200 single men, predominantly from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, will arrive in mid-August.
What happens if permission is granted?
Should the High Court grant the WLDC permission to apply for a judicial review, the case will advance to a final hearing.
As stated on the council’s website, this usually occurs within 35 days of the decision to grant permission. In this case, the defendant, the Home Office, must then file and serve its detailed grounds of resistance, setting out in more detail the basis on which it is defending the claim.
The final judicial review will then ultimately determine whether plans to establish a migrant camp at the former home of the Dambusters can go ahead.
Scampton Councillor Roger Patterson (Conservative) believes that the WLDC’s case is much stronger than that of Linton-on-Ouse, which previously won its judicial review.
However, MP Sir Edward Leigh warned that even if permission is granted, they may not be able to delay the first group of arrivals.
What happens if permission is denied?
If the council’s request for permission is denied, plans to house migrants at RAF Scampton are set to proceed for what is believed to be a project duration of at least three years.
Hampshire-based contractor Serco will be in charge of maintaining the supervision of those housed at the historic site.
The migrant camp is expected to process around 5,000 young men in its first year of operation, though only hosting 2,000 at any one time.
When the plans were first announced in March, Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick stated that the asylum seekers would be provided with portacabins, intended to “meet the essential living needs and nothing more”.
The site will be self-contained, but migrants living on the premises will be free to come and go as they please.
The situation would stall Scampton Holdings’ ambitious £300 million heritage, enterprise and tourism project, which had the potential to create thousands of highly-skilled jobs.
Caistor & Yarborough Councillor Angela Lawrence previously expressed concerns that the appetite for such a development may wane over the next three years, derailing it entirely.
Reflecting on the unpredictable future, she said: “Planning ahead three years from now, the climate may be different, financially and from other perspectives.
“I’m not a business person but I do know that the deal is available now. We don’t know what is going to happen in three years’ time.”