Updates: Wethersfield Airfield Asylum Accommodation

This page will be continually updated regarding the Home Office’s asylum seeker accommodation centre at Wethersfield Airfield.

Last updated: Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Who runs Wethersfield Asylum Centre?

Wethersfield Asylum Centre is a non-detained Home Office accommodation site established on the former Wethersfield airfield. It is operated by Clearsprings Ready Homes on behalf of the Home Office.

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

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

The MAF consists of representatives from:

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Current situation

The Home Office asylum accommodation centre has been housing asylum seekers since July 12 2023. It was initially permitted under emergency permitted development rights (known as Class Q) with capacity of up to 1,700 service users.

On 11 April 2024, 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 (DLUHC).

This extended the use of the asylum accommodation centre at Wethersfield Airfield for a further three years until April 2027, with up to six months decommissioning following.

There were a number of conditions that the Home Office had to adhere to in the SDO, which limited capacity to 580 users until the conditions were fulfilled in February 2025.

While the legal maximum capacity of the site remains at 1,700, the Home Office decided to set the standard operational capacity at 800 users.

If required to deal with higher than forecast small boat arrivals, a further 445 ‘surge’ bed spaces will be set up on site on a temporary basis.

In June 2025, the Home Office informed the Council that it would use this temporary capacity, with a plan to return down to standard occupancy in October 2025.

Both the Class Q and the SDO permissions to use the former airfield as an asylum centre superseded Braintree District Council's jurisdiction as the planning authority. The Council opposed its use through legal action, which proved unsuccessful.

The Council subsequently withdrew from the Judicial Review appeal.

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Background

Below is a brief timeline of events regarding the asylum accommodation site at Wethersfield:

29 Mar 2023

Immigration Minister announces Government's intention to secure accommodation for up to 1,700 asylum seekers at Wethersfield airfield
Braintree District Council reiterates view airfield is an unsuitable site, given the lack of capacity in local services, isolated location, size of the site and the impact the large development could have on the local community
Legal proceedings start. Braintree District Council applies for injunction on the grounds the Home Office could not rely on use of permitted development rights (known as Class Q) as way of getting around need for planning permission

19 Apr 2023

High Court hears injunction application to restrain Home Office from using Wethersfield airfield as asylum centre

21 Apr 2023

Injunction rejected by High Court, Council appeals decision

11 May 2023

Council issues an application for judicial review challenging Home Office’s decision to use site for asylum accommodation

Jun 12 2023

Appeal heard by Court of Appeal, Rt Hon Sir Keith Lindblom reserves judgement on case

23 Jun 2023

Court of Appeal declines Council's appeal

12 Jul 2023

First asylum seekers arrive at Wethersfield airfield site

12-13 Jul 2023

Judicial review appeal permission hearing heard at the High Court. Permission given to proceed with final hearing

31 Oct - 1 Nov 2023

Judicial review is heard at the High Court challenging Home Office on their reliance of the use of permitted development rights (Class Q), the Environmental Impact Assessment screening direction and compliance with the Equality Impact Assessment
Case is heard alongside another brought by a Wethersfield resident and one from West Lindsey District Council regarding their site at RAF Scampton. Judgement is reserved until later date

6 Dec 2023

Judicial review finds Home Office acted lawfully in its decision to use Wethersfield airfield for asylum seeker accomodation. Decision is appealed

20 March 2024

SDO is made. It is laid before Parliament the next day

11 Apr 2024

SDO comes into force
Formal cap on service users set at 800, with an additional 445 surge capacity, but SDO does allow provision for up to 1,700 to be based on the site
A number of conditions are attached to the SDO, which prevents the site hosting more than 580 users until these are fulfilled

30 May 2024

Braintree District Council announces withdrawal from the Judicial Review appeal process

7 Feb 2025

Home Office informs Braintree District Council they have fulfilled all SDO conditions set by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (formerly known as DLUHC) and total capacity could rise to 800

26 July 2025

The Home Office informs Braintree District Council they are standing up an extra 445 bed spaces on a temporary basis, taking site capacity of 1,245. The Home Office hopes to return to 800 total capacity by October

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Funding

We receive payments of the Asylum Large Sites and Vessels Grant from the Home Office, which has set the requirements and criteria for how the funding is utilised. This funding agreement, despite requests from the Council to the Home Office to make it public, remains confidential.

The grant must be used to address pressures on local services associated with the asylum accommodation to support the outcomes of the large sites programme. In particular, this relates to the provision of statutory services provided by Braintree District Council and Essex County Council.

Any non-statutory funding uses must be approved by the Home Office. However, we cannot use the grant to close our budget gap, or to cover legal costs incurred in bringing our challenges against the Home Office over its site use proposals.

This is one-off funding expected to cover the accommodation centre's lifetime. We receive £3,500 per newly occupied bed space paid in arrears.

We continue to work with partner agencies to understand how best to utilise some of the funding to deliver non-statutory activity to support a safe and self-sufficient site, while mitigating the surrounding community impact.

In Spring 2024, an immediate need to support those located on the site resulted in a community grant scheme being launched. We supported activities offered by voluntary organisations, such as maths classes and English speaking lessons. We also supported sports activities for a limited period until arrangements were put in place by the site operator.

In May 2025, we provided a grant to Wethersfield Airfield Museum.

In May 2025, we instructed Highways to begin a programme of improvements in the vicinity of the asylum centre. These included:

Traffic calming measures
Highway improvements by the asylum centre entrance
Clearance work to reclaim overgrown footpaths alongside the B1053 between Wethersfield and Finchingfield

We continue to engage with the wider community to understand what the impacts are, which continue to evolve over time.

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Enforcement action

The Council is the primary enforcement authority and has brought legal challenges against the Home Office and their use of the Wethersfield site. We continuously monitor all site activity and have considered bringing additional challenges as circumstances on site change. Currently, we are satisfied that we have robustly challenged the Home Office through the application for an injunction, the appeal heard before the Court of Appeal and the Judicial Review.

Following Home Office decisions to use other large sites for the same purpose, we have been working closely with other similarly affected local authorities. We’re aware that some issued enforcement notices in respect of 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. Steps 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.

Enforcement action should be proportionate to the breach of planning control to which it relates and taken when it is expedient to do so. 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 consider all options available to us where circumstances allow and it is expedient to do so.

We have made our position 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.

If you think there has been a breach of planning permission, you can report it to us using our online form.

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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 while 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.

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Local plan mapping and the Wethersfield site

The Home Office submitted a very broad response to our recent Local Plan Issues and Options consultation and sent us a map of what area of Wethersfield airfield they think we should put in our Local Plan mapping.

Whilst this isn’t a specific call for site submission from the government on the proposed future use of the site, we want to be open and transparent with the information we are provided with.

This is why we’ve updated our call for sites map on our website with that site. The Council needs to consider the site as part of its Local Plan review.

A specific site policy for the future use of the Wethersfield airfield site was considered by the Council’s Local Plan Sub-Committee on September 24, 2025, welcoming re-development of the site for viable uses that minimise impact, protect and enhance historic assets and create recreational opportunities.

More detail has been recommended to be developed through a separate Masterplan document, in collaboration with relevant partners and agents.

This document would then be used to support any future planning applications that come forward for the site and would be subject to community engagement and an examination before it would be adopted.

Residents will have an opportunity to share their views on the draft plan later this year before a final plan is agreed in 2026.

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Previous statements

Below are links to press releases issued by Braintree District Council in regards to the Wethersfield Airfield Asylum centre within the past two years.

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.

View all previous statements

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Contact the Home Office

You can contact the Home Office direct at:

Home Office
Direct Communications Unit
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

Email: public.enquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk

Telephone: 020 7035 4848

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Published: 23rd July 2024