The Home Office has delayed plans to move 2,000 illegal immigrants into the grounds of a disused RAF base at the centre of a legal battle.
Scampton Parish Council said it was informed by government officials on Thursday that immigrants won’t be housed at Lincolnshire’s RAF Scampton from next month.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, a council spokesperson said Home Office representatives claimed the delay was owing to ongoing building checks and finding “suitably qualified individuals” to oversee and assure gas, water, and electricity connectivity to the site.
“This shortfall has delayed the transfer of the site from the Ministry Of Defence to the Home Office (HO),” a council spokesperson said on Friday.
“It is not clear why the HO did not factor this activity into its plans at an earlier stage in the process.
“West Lindsey District Council and Scampton Parish Council continue to request that the HO organise a face-to-face meeting with the community so that your concerns and questions can be aired.
“We have been requesting such a meeting since March this year when the Focus Groups commenced; however, the HO are still to agree to such a meeting.”
The delay comes just weeks after West Lindsey District Council won the right to a judicial review to determine whether the government’s plans for RAF Scampton are lawful.
Unanswered Questions
The review is expected in the next few months, meaning it is likely to be concluded before the first immigrants are due to arrive.A Home Office spokesperson told The Epoch Times: “Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites will end the use of expensive hotels to house those arriving in small boats.
“We continue to work closely with local authorities to address the local communities’ concerns. We are working hard to deliver these sites as quickly as possible.”
In a statement released to the media following the July 12 High Court ruling, leader of West Lindsey District Council, Councillor Trevor Young, said: “I welcome today’s judgement, which I hope the community will take as a positive in that it clearly shows we have a case.
“However, as we have seen at other large sites across the country and in particular at Wethersfield, the Home Office is continuing to press ahead with its plans to use larger sites for asylum accommodation.
“Therefore, our challenge is to continue to balance our legal process with our duty of care as a local authority, to hold the Home Office to account on their proposals, as we have been doing since March.”
Mr. Young said that despite regular meetings with the Home Office, the community still has “many unanswered questions” on the immigrant housing plans.
“We will continue to raise our concerns with the Home Office so it can put in place mitigating actions,” he said.
“We will also continue to push for open and transparent engagement with our community.”
The delay coincides with reports that despite safety concerns, the Home Office expects to send an initial group of 50 people to the UK’s first floating barge for illegal immigrants on Tuesday.
The facility, known as the Bibby Stockholm barge, is in Portland, Dorset, and will eventually host about 500 men at a time.
Some residents have raised concerns for their safety on an island with a population of about 13,000, and said that it does not have the infrastructure to provide for the newcomers and those already there.
A record backlog and thousands of people making unauthorised crossings of the English Channel have strained the system as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to “stop the boats.”
