Wethersfield Airfield Asylum Accommodation

This page is to keep you updated on our latest statements and information relating to the Home Office’s plans to secure accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield.

Last updated: Friday 03 May 2024

What is Wethersfield Asylum Centre?

Wethersfield asylum centre is a non-detained accomodation Home Office site established on the former RAF Wethersfield airfield. It is operated by Clearspring Ready Homes.

The Home Office is responsible for keeping the community updated. It maintains webpages with information on the Wethersfield Asylum centre on the following topics: 

Braintree District Council is part of the Multi Agency Forum (MAF), a group which supports the centre's operational planning.

The MAF consists of representatives from: 

Current situation 

The Home Office asylum accomodation has been housing asylum seekers since July 12, 2023. It was initially permitted under emergency permitted development rights (known as Class Q).

On April 11, 2014, the Home Office had its permission extended via a Special Development Order (SDO) from the Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

This extends the use of the asylum accommodation centre at Wethersfield Airfield for a further three years, with up to six months decommissioning following. 

A SDO is a form of secondary legislation that grants planning permission for specific kinds of development in a particular area.

We were given the opportunity to provide our comments on this process where we raised various concerns over the lack of information provided and the failure to ensure meaningful engagement with stakeholders and the local community. You can read more about our response on our news page and read correspondence below: 

Braintree District Council did not have sight of the SDO prior to it being laid and is urgently requesting to see the details.

Background 

The Immigration Minister announced the government's intention to proceed with securing accommodation for up to 1,700 asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield on Wednesday, 29 March 2023. More information can be found on the GOV website.  

Since the announcement we have provided the Home Office with our strong view that RAF Wethersfield is an unsuitable site, given the lack of capacity in local services, its isolated location, the size of the site and the impact the scale of the development could have on the local community.  

On 29 March 2023, we started legal proceedings to challenge this decision by applying for an injunction. This was on the grounds that we believe the Home Office could not rely on the use of permitted development rights (known as Class Q) as a way of getting around the need for planning permission.  

Our injunction application to restrain the Home Office from using the site for this purpose was heard on 19 April 2023 and the High Court decided not to grant us with the injunction. We took this to appeal and on 23 June 2023 we received the Court of Appeal’s judgement that this was not successful.  

We then moved forward with a Judicial Review (JR) challenge of the decision by the Home Office to use RAF Wethersfield which we were given permission to progress with and took place on 31 October and 1 November. We challenged them on their proposed use and proposed development, the need for planning permission to be obtained and the Home Office failure to take a range of matters into account as part of their decision making process, including the conflict with the Local Plan, health care, traffic implications and wastewater. This relates to the Environmental Impact Assessment direction, reliance on the use of permitted development rights (Class Q) and the Equality Impact Assessment.

This was alongside two other judicial reviews which were also given permission to proceed - one brought by a resident from Wethersfield and one from West Lindsey District Council regarding their site at RAF Scampton. The Judicial Review was not successful and Mrs Justice Thornton determined the Home Office acted lawfully when making the decision to use the site for this purpose. We hve been given permission by the High Court to appeal this decision and the hearing is scheduled for 11 and 12 June 2024. 

 

Prison proposals 

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) informed us that they are not looking to use the Wethersfield airfield site to progress two new prisons whilst the Home Office are on site, but still maintain an interest in Wethersfield as part of their long-term prison strategy. We will keep our MoJ proposals webpage updated with the latest information. 

Funding

We have received an initial payment of the Asylum Large Sites and Vessel Grant from the Home Office which has certain requirements and criteria set by the Home Office which govern how we utilise the funding. The Home Office has clearly stated that it must be used to address pressures on local services associated with the asylum accommodation to support the outcomes of the large sites programme, specifically the provision of statutory services provided by Braintree District Council and Essex County Council.

We will also continue to work with partners agencies to understand how best to utilise a proportion of the funding to deliver discretionary activity to support a safe and self-sufficient site and mitigate the impact on the surrounding community. There is an immediate need to support those located on the site and progress is being made to support activities offered by voluntary organisations, such as maths classes, English speaking lessons and sports activities. We are currently engaging to understand how wider communities are being impacted and plan to launch a community grant scheme in Spring 2024.

We cannot use the grant to close our budget gap, nor can we use it to cover the legal costs incurred in bringing our challenges against the Home Office over its proposed use of the site.

This is one-off funding expected to cover the entirety of the time the site is in use. For 2023/24, we receive £3,500 per newly occupied bed space paid in arrears. At this time, we have not been provided with any long-term funding commitment from the Home Office beyond March 2024 and we have been requesting for this clarity.

Enforcement action

The Council has brought a number of legal challenges against the Home Office and their use of the Wethersfield site. Throughout this time, we have continuously monitored all activity taking place on the site and have considered bringing additional challenges as circumstances on site change. Currently we are satisfied that we have robustly challenged the Home Office through its application for an Injunction, the appeal heard before the Court of Appeal, and more recently the Judicial Review heard on 31 October and 1 November.

We have been working closing with other local authorities following decisions of the Home Office to use other large sites for the same purpose. We’re aware that some have taken steps to issue an enforcement notice in respect of the activities taking place on those sites. However, it is important to recognise that the decision to take enforcement action of any kind is based on the facts that are present and relevant to that particular set of circumstances and the site. The fact that such steps have been taken by another local authority in relation to issues arising on one site does not mean that the same proceedings are automatically possible on another site.  

Enforcement action should be proportionate to the breach of planning control to which it relates and taken when it is expedient to do so. Where the balance of public interest lies will vary from case to case. As the local planning authority, we do have the discretion to take enforcement action, when expedient to do so, having regard to the development plan and any other material considerations. Any legal challenge must be able to be robustly brought and concluded, and in bringing any proceedings we must carefully consider all possibilities. At this stage, we continue to monitor the position and will consider all options available to us to bring further robust legal challenges where circumstances allow and it is expedient to do so.

We have made our position very clear; we do not support the use of the site for the accommodation of asylum seekers given the scale of the development, the lack of capacity in local services and its isolated location. 

Previous statements:


Below are links to all press releases issued by Braintree District Council in regards to the Wethersfield Airfield Asylum centre. 

Please note this does not cover all public Council communications regarding the site. We employ a variety of messaging means, including responses to media enquiries, social media and e-newsletters. 

While the centre is run by ClearSprings Ready Homes on behalf of the Home Office, Braintree District Council is one of several stakeholders with statutory duties in relation to the site and its community impact. 
 

Published: 3rd May 2024