Council fights plans to house migrants at former Dambusters airbase
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Council bosses have told a High Court judge that Government plans to use land which once formed part of one of England’s most famous RAF bases to house asylum seekers should be quashed.
Lawyers representing West Lindsey District Council in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, argue that a decision to use land at the disused RAF Scampton airfield – where the Dambusters were based during the Second World War – is unlawful.
Braintree District Council in Essex is making a similar challenge in relation to plans for land which once formed part of RAF Wethersfield in the county.
A local resident, Gabriel Clarke-Holland, is also challenging plans for Wethersfield.
Mrs Justice Thornton is overseeing a hearing, due to last two days, at the High Court in London.
Ministers are fighting the claims.
Richard Wald KC, who is representing West Lindsey District Council, told the judge, in a written case outline, that council bosses want a judicial review of the decision to use land at RAF Scampton for the “accommodation of asylum seekers”.
He argued that the decision is “unlawful” and said it “should be quashed”.
Mr Wald said that, since the closure of RAF Scampton as an operational airbase was announced in 2018, the council has put together an “ambitious £300 million redevelopment plan”.
Those investments and the opportunities offered by the redevelopment scheme proposed at RAF Scampton would be lost in the event that the site is used for the accommodation of asylum seekers
“(The council) has to date invested over £370,000 in these once-in-a-generation redevelopment proposals as well as a vast amount of time and effort,” he said.
“Those investments and the opportunities offered by the redevelopment scheme proposed at RAF Scampton would be lost in the event that the site is used for the accommodation of asylum seekers.”
Nineteen Lancaster bombers, crewed by 133 airmen, took part in Operation Chastise on the night of May 16-17 1943 – the Dambusters Raid.
Led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, the raid targeted three dams in the industrialised Ruhr region of Germany using the “bouncing bomb” invented by Barnes Wallis.
They successfully breached the Mohne and Eder dams, while the Sorpe was damaged.
Lawyers representing councils have made complaints about ministers’ use of planning rules.
They say ministers cannot rely on “permitted development rights” because there is no “emergency”.
Lawyers have also raised concerns about migrants being housed for longer than an initially envisaged 12 months.
Home Office ministers and Levelling up, Housing and Communities ministers are fighting the claims.
They say the “emergency” argument” is “misplaced”. They say another judge has already made a ruling on the issue – and no evidence is being put forward to show that ruling is wrong.
