Council adopts local plan which includes policy protecting airfield earmarked by Home Office for asylum seeker accommodation

West Lindsey District Council has voted to adopt a local plan that includes a policy designating RAF Scampton as an 'opportunity area' amidst a legal battle with the Home Office over plans to accommodate asylum seekers on the site.

The move comes after the Lincolnshire council sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Home Office threatening a judicial review of the plan, which, if implemented, will see up to 2,000 asylum seekers accommodated at the disused airfield.

The Central Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee, which comprises 12 councillors from four Lincolnshire councils, including four West Lindsey councillors, voted to adopt the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan yesterday (13 April).

The councils have been working on the local plan since 2019, and efforts to enshrine protections for RAF Scampton in the plan have been pursued since the closure of the base was announced, according to West Lindsey.

The policy on the now decommissioned RAF Scampton seeks to protect the site's heritage assets. The site has been in use since the 1930s and was home to the Dambusters during World War II.

"Due to the uncertainty which surrounds the future of the base, the primary role of this policy is to safeguard the future of RAF Scampton, supporting measures that will enhance and protect the area, whilst remaining adaptive and responsive to future decisions on the disposal and development of the site," the policy reads.

The policy is in place to safeguard the airfield "in the event that the Ministry of Defence withdraw from the site and to provide a framework to help ensure any redevelopment is sustainable and holistically planned".

"The preparation of a masterplan with the status of a Development Plan Document, either through a single policy review of this Local Plan or as an Area Action Plan will be required prior to a planning application being submitted," the policy states.

It adds: "Major development proposals on the site not detailed in a masterplan, or any proposals that will result in a conflict between uses, safety concerns in connection with the ongoing use of the site or the airspace, or which delivers substandard development will not be supported."

West Lindsey said it had not received a response from the Home Office in regard to its pre-action protocol letter, except for a request to extend the deadline for a substantive response.

The council argues that the site does not have the appropriate planning permission and that the Home Office's decision was irrational. It also claims that the site is inappropriate for asylum seekers and fears that the proposals would curtail plans to deliver a £300 million regeneration programme.

The council's Director of Planning, Regeneration and Communities, Sally Grindrod-Smith, added that West Lindsey has requested that the Home Office take no steps towards using the airfield until it responds to its pre-action protocol letter.

The Home Office announced plans to move asylum seekers onto multiple disused military sites earlier this month as part of an effort to move away from the current policy of housing people in hotels, which costs £6m per day.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites will provide cheaper, suitable accommodation for those arriving in small boats whilst helping to reduce the use of hotels.

"These accommodation sites will house asylum seekers in basic, safe and secure accommodation as they await a decision on their claim."

It added: "We understand the concerns of local communities and will work closely with councils and key partners to manage the impact of using these sites, including liaising with local police to make sure appropriate arrangements are in place."

Next week the High Court will hear Braintree District Council's application for an injunction over Home Office plans to place asylum seekers on an airfield in Wethersfield.

Adam Carey