New Home Office plans for an asylum centre at the former RAF Linton-on-Ouse base, near York, are already damaging the village, campaigners have warned.
Members of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority heard that uncertainty over the plans was threatening the village’s recovery from the closure of the base in 2000.
Martin Sanderson, from Linton-on-Ouse Action Group, told the meeting that families who had already secured school places were now pulling out of plans to move to the village.
The campaigner said that Linton-on-Ouse has changed since the Home Office abandoned its previous asylum accommodation plans four years ago after spending £22.9m.
Mr Sanderson said that, since then, the community had worked to regenerate following the closure of RAF Linton-on-Ouse.
He added that the village pub had reopened, the local shop had prospective buyers and the primary school was moving onto a more sustainable footing.
“The new neighbourhoods have moved the edge of our village right up to the camp gates,” he said.
“This is not an asylum centre on an isolated RAF base. It is an asylum centre nestled deeply within a thriving, developing village.
However, he warned that those gains were now under threat.
“The impact is immediate; families who had secured school places are already rescinding their contracts to move in.”
Mr Sanderson said Linton was “materially different” from any site the Home Office currently uses or proposes.
He added: “It is the only site where less than four years ago, joint assessments by the Home Office, the MoD, police, fire services, local authority and health concluded this plan was completely unworkable.”
Mr Sanderson also warned that any pressures created by the proposed centre would not be confined to Linton-on-Ouse, but would place additional demands on services across North Yorkshire.
He urged the combined authority to help oppose the proposals, saying: “We ask you to recognise that a failure here becomes a burden for the whole region and help us stop this unworkable plan before millions more pounds are wasted.”
In response, Mayor David Skaith said it is his position that the former base should be used for housing rather than to house asylum seekers.
He added: “This is what we pursued with the Ministry of Defence and North Yorkshire Council since I was elected.
“I believe it has been ample time since 2020, since the site became empty and since the last proposal in 2022, to push forward.”
The government has announced plans to seek planning permission to house up to 3,750 people at Linton, and former RAF bases at Bicester in Oxfordshire and Barnham in Suffolk.
It is understood that the North Yorkshire base could be used to accommodate around 1,200 single men, although further details have not been confirmed.
