Linton-on-Ouse and Catterick Garrison residents will keep close eye on High Court judgement over plan for asylum centre on Essex airfield - The Yorkshire Post says

Wayne Beglan, for the council, on Wednesday told the High Court in London the plans would be a breach of planning control and the provision that would be used by the Government is designed to address emergencies. However, Paul Brown KC, for the Home Office, said in written submissions that “there can be no sensible dispute” the plans involved actions related to an emergency, citing “unprecedented numbers of asylum seekers” combined with the absence of suitable accommodation, which may cause homelessness.

It comes after RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and RAF Wethersfield were confirmed by Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick as sites for new processing centres earlier this month.

There are of course echoes of the plan, first announced a year ago this month, for the first major asylum seeker processing centre in the UK at the decomissioned RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.

Following community concerns, in August 2022, Defence Minister Ben Wallace announced he had withdrawn his offer of the site from the Home Office.

Locals, though – along with those near Catterick Garrison in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Richmond constituency, which has also been announced as a location for housing asylum seekers – will wonder how the coming High Court judgement might affect plans in their area.