A council has lost its High Court bid to block government plans to house asylum seekers at a former RAF base. The Home Office wants to house 1,700 adult male migrants at MDP Wethersfield in rural Essex, making it the UK’s largest asylum accommodation centre. Braintree District Council wanted an injunction, arguing the proposals were a “flagrant breach” of planning laws. Mr. Justice Waksman said he did not have the legal power to grant the council’s application.
“Braintree District Council says this is all about cost – but I do not accept that,” he said, giving a ruling in London earlier. “It is also a question of the general sustainability of the hotel options going forward. “Provision of the accommodation for the asylum seekers is not just an option for the home secretary – but a statutory obligation.”
The judge said while he ruled in favour of Home Secretary Suella Braverman, he would automatically send the case to the Court of Appeal because it had major implications. “It is important for both local authorities and central government to know where they stand as soon as possible,” he added.
The government has also earmarked two other Ministry of Defence (MOD) sites for asylum seeker accommodation – at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and in a former RAF station-turned-prison at Bexhill in East Sussex. The Home Office and MOD argued at a one-day hearing on Wednesday that changing the use of government-owned land was justified under planning law because it would prevent an emergency which “threatens serious damage to human welfare”. However, the council’s barrister Wayne Beglan said: “They are not emergencies sufficient to justify circumventing the normal planning controls.”
Reacting to the High Court ruling, a Braintree council spokesperson said the local authority would continue to “press” the Home Office for more detail about its plans. They added: “We remain of the view that Wethersfield airfield is an unsuitable site, given the lack of capacity in local services, its isolated location, the size of the site, and the fact that the scale of the development proposed could have a significant impact upon the local community.”
