Latest news with #RAFScampton
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Home Office to sell RAF Scampton on open market
A former RAF station in Lincolnshire is to be put up for sale on the open market, the Home Office has confirmed. The RAF Scampton site, near Lincoln, had been earmarked by the previous Conservative government to accommodate migrants, but the plans were scrapped by the Labour administration in September. West Lindsey District Council previously announced plans to buy the site in a deal which it said would unlock £300m of investment for the area. However, a government spokesperson said: "We must comply with market regulation of public land, rather than just handing it to the council." In a statement, the Home Office said the site had run up costs of more than £60m between March 2023 and September 2024. "We have taken swift action to review and discontinue the use of RAF Scampton as asylum accommodation, in order to save the taxpayer millions in projected site costs. "The sale of the site is taking place in line with the process for disposing of Crown land," a spokesperson added. West Lindsey said it was notified in a letter from Dame Angela Eagle MP, minister for border security and asylum. According to the authority, the letter said that "in parallel to this decision the Home Office is committed to continuing work with West Lindsey to progress their interest in the site". The council announced its development plan for the site in March 2023, which included proposals to transform the site into a business, aerospace and heritage centre. Sally Grindrod-Smith, director of planning and regeneration at the authority, said there was "a clear plan to secure the long-term investment this site needs". "Given the well-documented constraints such as contamination, heritage concerns, planning, and infrastructure challenges, a public-private partnership is the only realistic way forward," she said. She added that the council's preferred development partner, Scampton Holdings Ltd, remained committed to the project. Chairman of Scampton Holdings Peter Hewitt said: "This has been going on for a long time and we've faced many ups and downs. "No sooner were we announced as the preferred bidder, having been through a six- month public tender process, the [previous] government said they were putting migrants on the camp. "We are just cracking on in a straight line," he told BBC Radio Lincolnshire. In a post on X, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, Sir Edward Leigh, who previously supported local residents in opposing the asylum plans, described the move as "madness" when there was a deal ready to go. "They're just trying to cover their tracks because they wasted £64m and three years trying to house migrants there," he added. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Council hopes to buy RAF Scampton site by November Asylum seeker cabins removed from RAF Scampton Leaders seek talks on former RAF Scampton future Plans to house asylum seekers at RAF Scampton axed Home Office West Lindsey District Council
The Guardian
19-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Mass asylum seeker accommodation at Napier barracks to close
Napier barracks, one of the first mass accommodation sites opened to house asylum seekers, is to be closed after years of controversy about conditions there, including a mass Covid outbreak, decrepit facilities and far-right protests. The news is buried in a Home Office document uploaded to parliament's cross-party home affairs committee on Tuesday as part of an investigation into the provision of asylum accommodation. In the document the Home Office states: 'The Home Office intend to occupy and deliver services at Napier until September 2025, at which point the site will be handed back to the Ministry of Defence.' Napier, along with Penally barracks in Pembrokeshire, which was used to house asylum seekers for a few months at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, were opened due to pressures the Home Office was under to provide suitable accommodation for asylum seekers during the pandemic. Napier has capacity for 328 male asylum seekers, who were accommodated in dormitories. There was a mass Covid outbreak in July 2021 with 197 cases identified. A high court ruling in 2021 found that the site did not meet 'minimum standards'. Initially, asylum seekers were accommodated there for an indefinite period but the Home Office subsequently introduced a 90-day limit which the men held there said made their time there more bearable. The use of or plans to use Home Office mass accommodation sites for asylum seekers has been controversial, with proposals to use military bases RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and one at Linton-on-Ouse never getting off the ground. Watchdogs criticised the Home Office for spending millions on the purchase of Northeye in Bexhill, East Sussex. The Bibby Stockholm, where asylum seeker Leonard Farruku died following a suspected suicide and where there was an evacuation after potentially deadly legionella bacteria was found, also attracted controversy and has now closed. Only Wethersfield, a remote military base in Essex continues to operate without a confirmed end date. Three asylum seekers were found to have been accommodated there unlawfully in a high court ruling last week, although the judge found in the Home Office's favour on most of the broader points of the challenge. Emily Soothill of Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors, who has represented asylum seekers challenging conditions at Napier, said: 'We welcome the news that the government plans to cease using Napier Barracks as asylum accommodation. It is almost four years since the high court found, based on government evidence, that the home secretary had acted unlawfully in accommodating our clients at Napier Barracks, yet it continues to be used to accommodate hundreds of asylum seekers. 'People seeking asylum, especially victims of torture and trafficking, are more vulnerable to physical and mental illness. They have the right to be treated with dignity and should not be accommodated en masse in military barracks.' Sally Hough, the director of Napier Drop-In Centre, which provides support and activities for asylum seekers housed at Napier, said: 'Housing vulnerable people in dilapidated former military accommodation scheduled for demolition is wrong and a stain on our record of being a nation of sanctuary. One unintended outcome was how the camp galvanised the local community in support of the residents. 'Mass accommodation sites like Napier Barracks didn't have their intended effect. The camps didn't stop people from wanting to claim asylum in the UK and they didn't succeed in dividing our community. The opening of the camp encouraged people like myself to step up and build a bridge between the camp and the local community, dispel fear and foster integration and understanding.' The Home Office has been approached for comment.
Telegraph
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Home Office pays police force £2m to monitor asylum camp with no migrants
The Home Office has paid a police force £2 million to monitor a camp for asylum seekers despite no migrants ever being held there. Documents released by the Home Office show it paid Lincolnshire Police £1,936,531 to protect and oversee policing of RAF Scampton, which was once the Dambusters squadron's wartime air base. The camp was developed by the Tories to house migrants but never used. Labour decided to abandon the scheme, which had already cost £60 million to prepare, because the final £122 million cost by the end of its use in 2027 was deemed to not be value for money. However, in a note published on its website, the Home Office has revealed the net policing costs were £1.8 million for 2023-24 and an additional £136,531 for the year afterwards. This comes on top of £1,014,457 for the policing of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port, Dorset, which has also now been shut down, and RAF Wethersfield in Essex, which has received about 700 migrants. A National Audit Office report found housing migrants on the Bibby barge and the two former RAF bases would cost the taxpayer £46 million more than if they had remained in hotels. The money for Lincolnshire is understood to have paid for the force to oversee security of the site and deploy officers where necessary. However, this would have meant that front-line police were diverted from fighting crime. It comes after Lincolnshire Police drew up plans to cut 200 officers from its 1,200-strong force, as well as a further 200 police staff to cover a £14 million funding gap. It also cancelled a new intake of officers for March. The Dambusters' 617 squadron was formed at RAF Scampton. It was from there that 19 Lancaster bombers departed for the raid in 1943 to destroy three dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany's industrial heartlands with 'bouncing bombs' designed by the renowned engineer Barnes Wallis. Rishi Sunak's government envisaged turning it into a camp for 2,000 asylum seekers despite opposition from local politicians, the council, and historians. Forty historians – including Sir Antony Beevor, Sir Max Hastings and Dan Snow – wrote to the Home Office, describing plans to use the site as an asylum camp as an act of ' cultural desecration'. However, in September, Labour announced it was abandoning the plan and handing it over to West Lindsey council, which has £300 million plans to turn the base and its historic runway into a aviation and aerospace hub and national heritage site. On Friday, the High Court found that Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, acted unlawfully in accommodating three victims of trafficking and torture at RAF Wethersfield because of the effect the conditions had on their mental health. A Home Office spokesman said: 'This Government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, but we are determined to cut the unacceptably high costs of asylum accommodation to the British taxpayer, which is why we ended the use of the costly Scampton and Bibby Stockholm sites. 'We also remain committed to ending the use of hotels over time, and continue to explore a range of options to deliver better value for money to the taxpayer. 'Where asylum accommodation continues to be required, protecting the safety and security of the local community, the staff and those staying in that accommodation remains of paramount importance, and the Home Office has worked closely to that end over a number of years with local forces across the country, especially those with large sites in their areas.'
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Home Office pays police force £2m to monitor asylum camp with no migrants
The Home Office has paid a police force £2 million to monitor a major camp for asylum seekers despite no migrants ever being held there. Documents released by the Home Office show it paid Lincolnshire Police £1,936,531 to protect and oversee policing of RAF Scampton, which was once the Dambusters squadron's wartime air base. The camp was developed by the Tories to house migrants but never used. Labour decided to abandon the scheme, which had already cost £60 million to prepare, because the final £122 million cost by the end of its use in 2027 was deemed to not be value for money. However, in a note quietly published on its website, the Home Office has revealed the net policing costs were £1.8 million for 2023/24 and an additional £136,531 for the year afterwards. This comes on top of £1,014,457 for the policing of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port, Dorset, which has also now been shut down, and RAF Wethersfield in Essex, which has received about 700 migrants. A National Audit Office report found housing migrants on the Bibby barge and the two former RAF bases would cost the taxpayer £46 million more than if they had remained in hotels. The money for Lincolnshire is understood to have paid for the force to oversee security of the site and deploy officers where necessary. However, this would have meant that front-line police were diverted from fighting crime. It comes after Lincolnshire Police drew up plans to cut 200 officers from its 1,200-strong force, as well as a further 200 police staff to cover a £14 million funding gap. It also cancelled a new intake of officers for March. The Dambusters' 617 squadron was formed at RAF Scampton. It was from there that 19 Lancaster bombers departed for the raid in 1943 to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley in Germany's industrial heartlands with 'bouncing bombs' designed by the renowned engineer Barnes Wallis. Rishi Sunak's government envisaged turning it into a camp for 2,000 asylum seekers despite opposition from local politicians, the council, and historians. Forty historians – including Sir Antony Beevor, Sir Max Hastings and Dan Snow – wrote to the Home Office, describing plans to use the historic site as an asylum camp as an act of 'cultural desecration'. However, in September, Labour announced it was abandoning the plan and handing it over to West Lindsey council which has £300 million plans to turn the base and its historic runway into an operational aviation and aerospace hub and national heritage site. On Friday, the High Court found that Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, acted unlawfully in accommodating three victims of trafficking and torture at RAF Wethersfield because of the effect the conditions had on their mental health. A Home Office spokesman said: 'This Government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, but we are determined to cut the unacceptably high costs of asylum accommodation to the British taxpayer, which is why we ended the use of the costly Scampton and Bibby Stockholm sites. 'We also remain committed to ending the use of hotels over time, and continue to explore a range of options to deliver better value for money to the taxpayer. 'Where asylum accommodation continues to be required, protecting the safety and security of the local community, the staff and those staying in that accommodation remains of paramount importance, and the Home Office has worked closely to that end over a number of years with local forces across the country, especially those with large sites in their areas.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
BBC News
28-02-2025
- Business
- BBC News
RAF Scampton: West Lindsey District Council hopes to buy site by November
A council leader says an "extremely positive" meeting was held with the government, which could result in the authority buying RAF Scampton by former home of the Dambusters squadron is owned by the Home Office but plans to use it for asylum seeker housing by the previous government were scrapped in Lindsey District Council leader Trevor Young and other local leaders met with Dame Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, in Westminster on Wednesday. The authority hopes to buy the site in a deal which it says would unlock £300m of investment for the area, but there could be competition from other parties. Young was joined at the meeting by deputy council leader Lesley Rollings, Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh and Lincoln MP Hamish Falconer. Young told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We have come away feeling extremely positive – our case was well-received."We put forward a very good argument across as to why the council should be allowed to buy the site, to protect the heritage and bring the £300m of investment."However, Young said it was "a little bit frustrating" that the government wanted to put the site on the open market and said the local council should be "the preferred bidder". It is almost two years since the council first unveiled its designs for the site, which would be carried out with its partner Scampton Holdings plans would see the 800-acre location used for aviation, heritage, tourism, education and they were blocked when plans to house asylum seekers at Scampton were announced. The former base is seen as vital due to its historic connections with the famous 617 Squadron and its economic potential relating to defence, air and Dambusters is the most famous wartime RAF squadron following its Operation Chastise mission in World War Two to destroy German dams using the bouncing council launched its bid to buy the site in December, after the government scrapped the plan to use the former base as an asylum centre. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
