A council's plan to house asylum seekers in shipping containers on an RAF runway has been slammed as 'inhumane'. A councillor told a packed public meeting that the new proposal for housing would see existing MoD accommodation refurbished.
CounRichard Butroid added there was further potential for "Greek-style Portacabins, so shipping containers” to be placed on the airfield’s hard standing at RAF Scampton. West Lindsey District Council recently announced plans for £300million of investment in the airbase which closed last year.
Just days later it was confirmed the Home Office was looking at rehousing 1,500 asylum seekers there. Councillor Butroid, who represents Gainsborough South on the county council, told a meeting at Pollyplatt Primary School that the use of Scampton as an asylum processing centre was “outrageous” and “our worst fears”, reports LincolnshireLive.
He said: "We’re really not happy with the situation. West Lindsey and other partners have worked so hard over the past two years to have a place, a future for the camp, and it’s really disheartening, that the Government can come in at this last minute and potentially override everything.”
He later confirmed that the council had not yet been formally spoken to by any Government department. Hamish Falconer, Labour’s prospective Parliamentary candidate for Lincoln in the next General Election, tweeted: "The plans presented were both inhumane and unworkable.
"1,500 single men in shipping containers on the runway and an end to £300mn of hi-tech investment." The former leader of the Foreign Office’s Terrorism Response Team across Afghanistan and South Sudan, added: "I've lived in containers like that overseas- this isn't a practical plan.
"Significant investment and history will be lost and human misery caused. I'm proud to have helped Afghans fleeing persecution to make it to safety in the UK.
"We've a proud history of it, and the biggest cheers of the night were for people making clear they are not opposed to immigrants, but focussed on the exciting industrial future for Scampton."
Mr Falconer said after the meeting: "It is inhumane to start, it is going to be totally impractical given the services around here. It is obvious this is a clever plan come up with in London with no sense of what RAF Scampton is actually like.”
Sally Grindrod-Smith, West Lindsey District Council’s director for planning, regeneration and communities, was also frustrated by the Government’s plans and said the authority was working to protect the future of the site.
She said: "We know RAF Scampton is a very special place, and we can see the potential of this site to make a transformation plan for the economic and social prosperity of our area. We were determined to work with the community to do things differently this time around for this community.
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“We have a master plan and investment plan that’s ready to go. There is £300 million worth of investment proposals on the table and we have made our concerns very clear to Government but these can potentially be lost if they progress with alternative proposals.”
Residents raised several concerns around the security of the site, the safety of residents and the asylum seekers – particularly if they chose to walk along the A15 to Lincoln, the impact on local services and the potential damage to the heritage of RAF Scampton. Meanwhile, Victoria Idia, a lawyer who specialises in immigration, has shared her thoughts on Scampton.
Ms Idia, a casework manager with Immigration Advice Service, said: "I will imagine RAF Scampton to be in some way similar to Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) Campsfield House outside Oxford which was an older institution in comparison to many other detention centres such as IRC Colnbrook in Heathrow and IRC Brook House in Gatwick. IRC Campsfield had previously served as a military barracks and a Young Offenders' Institution.
"We will not actually know how RAF Scampton will be run until it gets up and running. IRC Campsfied house was closed in 2018 but when it was running as a detention centre it operated a ‘free flow’ regime, where detainees could walk freely around the building and access a grassy outdoor area from 7pm to 9pm.
"In IRC Colnbrook and IRC Brook House in contrast, more time is spent locked up in the detainees room. One thing is for sure, there have been significant concerns over the Immigration Removal Centres."
