Sir Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative MP for Wetherby and Easingwold, has told the commons that he has heard that the RAF Linton-on-Ouse site will be used as place to house migrants.
Speaking at Westminster today he said:
“In the last hour and a half, I’ve had several emails and telephone calls, and I will read one of these emails.
“I am writing this as I have been reliably informed that bidding has commenced for turning The RAF Linton-on-Ouse base into an immigration detention centre.
“I am deeply concerned, as this proposal was put forward four years ago and caused great stress and turmoil to our local community.
“I would also like to know why the local community was not informed of this decision before a decision was made to use the base for something that was deemed unsuitable years ago.”
Mr Shelbrooke continues: “Mr Madam Deputy Speaker, may I ask the leader of the House whether we can have a statement before the end of today’s business, so that some of these questions may be put to the Minister directly before we break for the weekend.”
A government minister said “I do understand the concerns of members. Let me take this away and see if we can get the assurance that not just he, but other members that are seeking.”
It’s understood that the Government will announce, later tonight, 12 sites to replace the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.
This story will be updated as new information comes in.
The UK government formally abandoned plans in August 2022 to transform the former RAF Linton-on-Ouse base in North Yorkshire into a processing centre for asylum seekers.
Following significant local opposition and legal challenges from the local council, the Ministry of Defence withdrew the site from consideration.
Olga Matthias, a campaigner from the Linton-on-Ouse Action Group told YorkMix Radio she couldn’t believe the Government was trying again.
“It’s ridiculous. It was quite clearly in 2022 the wrong plan, wrong place. That still applies, possibly even more so, given four years of further deteriorating infrastructure, given the fact that the RAF has gone ahead in leaps and bounds, with decommissioning.
“The state of the base will be far, far worse than it ever was before, and it was deemed unsuitable then.
“At least the Conservative government accepted eventually that they’d made a mistake. Why this Labour government can’t understand that decisions that are taken are actually taken for the right reasons, but then again, they’ve consistently demonstrated in the last 24 months that if there’s a wrong decision to be made, they will.”
More to follow on this story later.
