Wethersfield airfield asylum accommodation statements

Braintree District Council's Judicial Review application regarding Home Office plans to turn a former airfield into an asylum centre will be heard next month. 

Councillor Graham Butland, leader of the Council, said: 

“We have received notification that our appeal against the High Court’s decision regarding the interpretation of Class Q and the refusal to grant the Council an injunction to stop the Home Office’s proposals to provide accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield will be heard on June 12. 

“We are also currently working with all parties across the three judicial reviews that have been brought against the Home Office decision to use this site and RAF Scampton in West Lindsay. We have received confirmation from the High Court that the permission hearing on all three judicial reviews (which will determine whether the parties are granted permission to proceed with the judicial reviews) will be heard on June 12 and 13, after the appeal hearing. 

“In line with the undertaking provided as part of the injunction legal proceedings, we have received further confirmation from the Secretary of State for the Home Department that in view of the pending appeal hearing, they will not be placing any asylum seekers on the site before 26 June 2023. 

“We have continued to stress the importance to the Home Office of them keeping residents and businesses updated on their asylum centre plans for RAF Wethersfield.  

“We are aware the Home Office are setting up engagement sessions with residents in the nearby area, the wider local community and stakeholders including parish councils over the next couple of weeks, as a way of keeping people updated on any progress and developments, and for people to ask questions and share concerns. We will continue to keep residents updated.”

Braintree District Council has applied for a judicial review challenging the Home Office's decision to use the former Wethersfield airfield as an asylum centre.

Council Leader Councillor Graham Butland said: 

"As some of you will be aware, we have decided to appeal the High Court’s decision not to grant Braintree District Council an injunction against the Home Office’s proposals to secure accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield. 

"We do not have a date for our appeal hearing yet, but we will keep residents updated once we know more. 

"As previously stated, we have continued to look at the other legal options available to us and we have also issued an application for judicial review challenging the Home Office’s decision to use the site for this purpose. 

"We are aware there are currently two other judicial review proceedings that have been issued from West Lindsey District Council for their site at RAF Scampton and a resident from Wethersfield. We understand West Lindsey’s judicial review includes an application for an interim injunction which is due to be heard by the High Court today (May 11) and we will assist the court in any directions for future management of all three judicial reviews. 

"The Home Office can still prepare the site whilst legal proceedings are in progress and we understand survey work is still ongoing. 

"We still need to prepare to support any asylum seekers if legal proceedings are not successful. We are continuing to work with local partners to plan for this as well as mitigating any pressures on local services and the impact on the local community.   

"We are aware of the possibility of funding for local authorities with a per-bedspace payment for asylum seekers, however we have not received any details from the Home Office and we do not know what level of funding is being proposed or what it will be provided for at this stage.

"We do however expect this funding to be called upon by a number of other local partners and not just Braintree District Council. 

"We recognise that there are still many unanswered questions about these proposals and ongoing concerns within the community. Please know that we are doing all we can behind the scenes to press the Home Office for more details, encouraging them to urgently share additional information when it becomes available and to engage proactively with the community.

"With our partners, we continue to raise questions and concerns from the community as part of these discussions. We will keep residents updated as we progress with our legal proceedings and with any information we receive from the Home Office. 

"Thank you to all residents, parish councils, community groups and MPs for your continued support as we move through this process."

Braintree District Council will appeal the decision to reject the authority's injunction application for asylum seeker housing plans at Wethersfield.

Last Friday (April 21) we received the High Court’s judgement on our injunction application to challenge the Home Office’s proposals to secure accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield. 

The High Court decided not to grant us with an injunction and determined that the Home Office is permitted to rely upon the provisions set out within Class Q. 

We have been reflecting on next steps and have decided to proceed with appealing the High Court’s decision, as we share the same view as many in our community that Wethersfield Airfield is not a suitable site for asylum use, and we remain of the view that the Home Office cannot rely on the use of permitted development rights (Class Q) as a way of getting around the need for planning permission. 

We will be preparing our appeal papers and will be lodging these within the next week. We’ll then await notification of when the appeal will be heard by the Court of Appeal and keep residents updated. 

This appeal does not stop the Home Office from continuing to prepare the site to house asylum seekers. We will be requesting that the appeal is heard before the Home Office place any asylum seekers on site. 

We know there is still a lot of uncertainty amongst the community on these plans and we are continuing to press the Home Office to engage directly with the local community to share more detailed plans about their proposals and fully understand the concerns being raised. 

The government has issued a frequently asked questions document published on their website. However, some details remain unclear. We are still lacking detailed information from the Home Office on the needs of any asylum seekers and the facilities that would be provided on site. 

In the meantime, we are continuing to work with our multi-agency partners to prepare if plans go ahead and identify any actions required so that we can support any asylum seekers accommodated and help to minimise any impacts on our local communities. 

Braintree District Council's application for an injunction against the Home Office's plans to house asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield has been refused.

The application was heard by the High Court on Wednesday, April 19.

This challenged the proposals by the Home Office to secure accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield and their reliance on the use of permitted development rights (Class Q) as a way of getting around the need for planning permission. We had sought to obtain an injunction to restrain them from using the site for this purpose.  

We are disappointed that the High Court did not grant us with an injunction to restrain the Home Office from their proposals and have determined that the Home Office is permitted to rely upon the provisions set out within class Q.  

We remain of the view that Wethersfield Airfield is an unsuitable site, given the lack of capacity in local services, its isolated location, the size of the site, and the fact that the scale of the development proposed could have a significant impact upon the local community, and want to thank all those who have worked with us, including local residents, community groups, parish councils and MP’s, up until this point.   

We are grateful to the judge for granting the council’s application for an appeal and we will now be reflecting on any next steps.  

If plans do go ahead, we will continue to work closely with our partners to press the Home Office to share more detailed information about their plans with the local community and identify any actions required so that we can support any asylum seekers accommodated as well as minimising any impacts on our local communities. 

Braintree District Council's application for an injunction was heard by the High Court today (April 19). This challenged the proposals by the Home Office to secure accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield and their reliance on the use of permitted development rights (Class Q) as a way of getting around the need for planning permission. We had sought to obtain an injunction to restrain them from using the site for this purpose.  

Mr Justice Waksman has reserved judgement which means a decision will be given at a future date. 

As soon as we receive an indication on an anticipated date for a decision, we will keep residents updated. 

As always, we will continue to keep residents informed when we know more. 

Again, a huge thank you to residents, businesses, community groups, MPs and parish councils for working with us on this matter. 

Following Braintree District Council applying for an injunction against the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence to stop them establishing an asylum centre at Wethersfield Airfield, we have secured agreement from the High Court for a full injunction to be heard on April 19, 2023. By securing a full day hearing on the legality of the Home Office’s actions, we have been able to obtain further information about the potential use of the site.    

As part of our legal proceedings, the Home Office has confirmed to the judge hearing the case that they will not move asylum seekers on to Wethersfield Airfield until a time after the court hearing and will only do so if they succeed in defending their position against our injunction. We will keep residents updated on the outcome of the hearing. 

The Home Office has however confirmed that whilst they will respect the outcome of our legal action, they will begin preparing the site for asylum seeker accommodation from today (Thursday 6th April 2023). Whilst this means that our legal action has not yet stopped the Home Office from starting to prepare the site for asylum seeker accommodation, our court hearing will provide an opportunity for the issues to be fully considered and for a determination to be given by the High Court on the legalities of the proposal.  

Potential environmental impact

Also, in response to our requests to the Home Office for information on their proposals, we have been supplied with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening direction. The direction states that the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (SSLUHC) does not consider that the potential environmental impact of an asylum centre being established at Wethersfield Airfield would not constitute development that would require an EIA and that therefore there is no need for a full Environmental Impact Assessment to be carried out. Whilst we have not received the actual documentation submitted by the Home Office with their Screening Request, the SSLUHC has provided a written statement explaining their decision and this statement offers some information on the proposed use of the site. 

The documentation can be viewed on our public access website (www.braintree.gov.uk/pa), using application reference 23/00942/SOS. 

We remain of the view that Wethersfield Airfield is an unsuitable site to house asylum seekers, given the lack of capacity in local services, its isolated location and the fact that the scale of the development proposed could have a significant impact upon the local community.  

We have continued to encourage the Home Office to engage proactively with the local community on their plans and will continue to ask them for updates and information on behalf of our community. 

We are aware from the announcement made by central government today (March 29) that the Home Office is intending to proceed with securing accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield.  

It is extremely disappointing that concerns raised by us and the local community have not been taken on board. Our view remains that Wethersfield Airfield is an unsuitable site, given the lack of capacity in local services, its isolated location, the size of the site, and the fact that the scale of the development proposed could have a significant adverse impact upon the local community.  

For the past two weeks officers have been working tirelessly to keep the situation under review and urgently seeking clarification and more information from the Home Office on these plans. 

Legal options

We have been exploring all legal options available to us to challenge the Home Office on their decision making and challenge the plans from going ahead. Following legal advice we received, we applied to the High Court this morning (Wednesday 29th March) for an interim injunction. This injunction challenges the Home Office proposals to place asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield. The matter is expected to be listed before the High Court within the next 7 days. We understand that the application will be heard by the High Court before the site is occupied by asylum seekers. 

We want to say thank you again to all those who have been working with us, including local parish councils, community groups and residents. We will continue to work with everyone as we move forward.  

If the plans do go ahead and the High Court decide not to grant an interim injunction, we will work closely with our partners to urgently identify any actions required to support any asylum seekers accommodated as well as minimise any impacts on local communities.  

It’s important for us to be keeping the local community updated on these plans and we will continue to press the Home Office for more information on their plans and keep our channels updated as and when we know more, including the outcome from the High Court regarding the injunction.  

The leader of Braintree District Council Leader has issued an update on the Home Office plans for the former Wethersfield airfield. 

Reading a statement at a meeting of the full council today (March 20), Cllr Graham Butland said:  

“Members will be aware of recent media coverage relating to the potential plans by the Home Office to secure accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield. 

“The Council has been approached by the Home Office to discuss the potential role the Wethersfield airfield site could have in housing asylum seekers. There have now been a number of meetings between officers of this Council and senior officials at the Home Office to discuss the issue and to seek clarification on the proposals being considered by the Home Office. 

“The Home Office has advised the Council that they have not taken any formal decision as to the future use of the site. However, they have confirmed that plans are being considered to provide contingency accommodation for asylum seekers on this site. We understand that if the site is used it would provide accommodation for asylum seekers whilst their claims for asylum are being determined, and not as a detention centre. 

“The Council has provided the Home Office with our strong view that we believe Wethersfield airfield to be an unsuitable site, given the lack of capacity in local services, its isolated location, the size of the site, and the fact that the scale of the development proposed could have a significant adverse impact upon the local community. 

“The Council continues to seek further information from the Home Office, and officers are working tirelessly keeping the situation under review. 

“The Council has sought legal advice and formally written to the Home Office to request full and detailed information on their proposals, together with a request for copies of all relevant documentation. We are awaiting full details from the Home Office at this time. 

“We are also aware that recently there has been a range of activity taking place on the site. We have written to the Home Office to seek a full explanation and reasoning for this activity. 

“In the meantime, the Council reserves all legal rights, including the ability to challenge the Home Office on their decision making and the Council’s right to consider, all available legal remedies including its ability to seek an injunction if it becomes necessary and appropriate to do so. 

“I would like to thank all those that have been working with the Council, including but not limited to the Parish Councils in the immediate vicinity, local community groups and members of the public. We understand how these proposals can give rise to uncertainty, and we will continue to keep residents updated on this matter when we know more via the Council’s communication channels.” 

Braintree District Council is continuing to urgently seek clarification from the Home Office regarding their potential plans to house asylum seekers at the RAF Wethersfield airfield site. 

We met with them again this week and they emphasised that no decision has yet been taken.  

We have sought legal advice and have formally written to the Home Office to request full and detailed information as to the proposals, together with a request for copies of all relevant documentation. We await further details from the Home Office. In the meantime, the Council reserves all legal rights, including the ability to challenge the Home Office on their decision making and the Councils right to consider, all available legal remedies including its ability to seek an injunction.  

We have continued to reiterate that we believe Wethersfield airfield to be an unsuitable site, and our concerns that due to the size of the site, the scale of the development proposed could have a significant adverse impact upon the local community. 

Residents will be aware of the recent media coverage about potential plans by the Home Office to secure accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airfield. 

We were recently approached by the Home Office to discuss the potential role the Wethersfield airfield site could have in housing asylum seekers. 

Last week we were urgently seeking clarification from the Home Office and met with them on Friday (March 10). They emphasised that no decision has yet been taken, however they confirmed that plans to provide contingency accommodation for asylum seekers on this site are under consideration, with several government departments involved. We understand that if the site is used it would be on the basis of providing accommodation for asylum seekers whilst their claims for asylum are being determined and not as a detention centre. 

We reiterated our initial view that we believe Wethersfield airfield to be an unsuitable site, given the lack of capacity in local services and its isolated location. We are now seeking legal advice to see if there is anything within our powers to prevent the development going ahead. We await further details, including any potential timescales, from the Home Office.  

If the Home Office decide to provide accommodation for asylum seekers at Wethersfield airfield, we will work closely with our partners, including Essex County Council, the NHS Integrated Care Board and Essex Police, to identify any actions required to support any asylum seekers accommodated as well as minimise any negative impacts on local communities.