Conservative led council approves motion of no confidence in the Home Office over Linton-on-Ouse plans

A Conservative-led council has overwhelmingly passed a vote of no confidence in the Home Office’s “cack-handed” handling of plans to transform a former RAF base into a centre for 1,500 male asylum seekers.
A view of RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.A view of RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.
A view of RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire.

The first act of the new North Yorkshire County Council saw strong cross-party support for the rebuke to the government over its plans to move the non-detained young single males from different parts of the world to Linton on Ouse, an isolated rural village north of York.

It came as the local MP pleaded with the Prime Minister to “stop” the plans that will see 60 asylum seekers moving in from the end of this month, and which he says will “devastate the community” and leave residents feeling unsafe.

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In a highly unusual move, the council’s Conservative leadership threw their full support behind a notice of motion proposed by Independent group leader Councillor Stuart Parsons to denounce the Home Office’s actions, just a day after the Home Office had announced its intention to fast-track the proposal to open the centre on May 31.

The authority’s first full meeting saw councillors across the political spectrum line up to condemn the Home Office’s decision to go ahead with the centre without having consulted residents, even leaving North Yorkshire and Hambleton councils in the dark until recently.

The agreed statement read: “This council has no confidence in the Home Office in relation to action being undertaken in Linton on Ouse with regard to the resettlement of asylum seekers due to the lack of consultation of local communities and stakeholders.”

Coun Parsons said the no confidence vote would send very strong messages both to the government and to communities that had been left fearful due to a lack of communication and information about how the centre would be managed.

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He said: “Our most important function is to support our local residents and at the moment what is being proposed for those communities is not supporting them. I’m not criticising individuals, just the cack-handed way that this has been handled.”

Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake told Boris Johnson his constituency “has welcomed asylum seekers from all parts of the world including Syria and Ukraine”

but the existing plans “will devastate the community.”

Pointing to the fact that the village is “without streetlights, without police presence,” Mr Hollinrake added:

“It will devastate house prices which will plummet, and the residents in that village will not feel safe to leave their homes alone.”

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He asked the Prime Minister to “please on behalf of the community, please stop these plans.”

Mr Johnson said he heard Mr Hollinrake “loud and clear” but did not commit to putting the proposals on hold.

“Indeed I am the recipient of many of his intercessions on this matter,” he added.

“I understand the strength of feeling in his constituency and I am sure there will be further meetings between him and the Home Office about what we can do.”

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The Yorkshire Post understands that meetings were due to be conducted yesterday evening.

Speaking at the North Yorkshire County Council meeting yesterday, Councillor Arnold Warneken, whose division includes nearby villages, said: “We are talking about abandoning a community that’s in North Yorkshire. The people of Linton on Ouse, the Ouseburns and the Dunsforths and neighbouring villages feel abandoned. We can’t turn our back on it simply because our Government has.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The asylum reception centre at Linton-on-Ouse will help end our reliance on expensive hotels which are costing the taxpayer almost £5million a day. We are engaging with local stakeholders about the use of the site.

“The New Plan for Immigration will fix this broken asylum system, allowing us to support those in genuine need while preventing abuse of the system and deterring illegal entry to the UK.”