Water supply uncertainty another reason to ditch Linton-on-Ouse asylum centre plans
Various governments have touted RAF Linton-on-Ouse as a sensible solution to ending the use of migrant hotels. However, that is clearly undermined by the lack of infrastructure around the site.
The village of Linton-on-Ouse is ill-equipped to welcome hundreds of male asylum seekers. And even the suggestion that these migrants would remain contained within the former RAF base are flawed.
The current water supply to the site is unlikely to be enough if it is turned into an asylum centre with Yorkshire Water saying that reinforcement would be needed for increased demand.
The Government should spare itself the embarrassment and the local people of Linton-on-Ouse the anxiety by ditching these plans now rather than waiting for the proposals to descend into a farce.
Housing asylum seekers in hotels is not appropriate but even more inappropriate is dumping hundreds of men onto a small rural village with no infrastructure to support such a large influx of arrivals.
The Prime Minister is contradicting his own agenda of putting power back into the hands of communities by refusing to listen to the concerns of the people of Linton-on-Ouse. A cross-party group of Yorkshire MPs have written to the Home Secretary, urging her to reconsider the plans and the Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has also raised concerns. So why is the Government still pressing on with these plans?
They are not sustainable, they are certainly not fair on the good people of Linton-on-Ouse and it’s transpiring that the actual site may not be fit for purpose.