Portable cabins brought in for RAF Scampton asylum plan

Portable cabins have been craned on to the former RAF Scampton base as part of government plans to house asylum seekers at the site.

The government has been accused of reducing the base's aviation potential by bringing in the cabins while a legal challenge is still under way.

Asylum seekers are due at the Lincoln base in October, though the Home Office's plan is under judicial review.

The Home Office said it was working hard to deliver the sites quickly.

Hamish Falconer, Labour parliamentary candidate for Lincoln, said the government had craned the containers onto "one of the most valuable parts of the airfield, the apron that until recently the Red Arrows used."

"I've been talking to companies still keen to seriously invest, and create jobs here, but they need the airfield to remain intact, maintained and capable of being restored to operational status," he added.

The cabins were spotted on Thursday by local resident Sarah Carter, a campaigner from Save Our Scampton, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She said: "It's a bit disrespectful because we've got this judicial review pending - what happens if we win it?"

A developer which wants to regenerate the site as a business, aerospace and heritage centre, has expressed disappointment over what it claimed had been a lack of transparency by the Home Office in respect of the plans.

Tom Lear, director at Scampton Holdings, said: "To be clear, if the Home Office inflicts damage to the airside facilities at Scampton, it will rapidly become cost prohibitive for Scampton Holdings, or any other party, to recover the airside at Scampton to a viable, useable standard, thereby rendering the aviation capability and significant economic opportunity defunct."

Meanwhile, the Lincolnshire County Council leader said the authority was coming to terms with the reality that the asylum plan would happen and it would "place a large burden on us as a county council but also on others".

Speaking during an overview and scrutiny management board meeting, Conservative councillor Martin Hill said: "The political view is that we accept Scampton is going to happen and we understand why the government is going down that road.

"But, there needs to be some account of the additional burden that will bring on us on top of everything else."

Up to 2,000 asylum seekers could move into the base, which was once home to the 617 Dambusters Squadron, whose crews flew the famous German dam raids in May 1943.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "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."

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