Wethersfield MDP: Council loses High Court bid to prevent asylum seekers being housed at former RAF base | UK news

Braintree District Council has lost a High Court bid to prevent asylum seekers from being housed at a former RAF air base.

Handing down the ruling in London on Friday, Judge Waxman concluded that the court did not have the legal authority to grant the council’s application for an injunction and therefore ruled in favor of the government.

The legal case was brought after Braintree District Council opposed the use of Wethersfield Airfield to house asylum seekers.

Wethersfield is just one of the abandoned military sites the Home Office has identified as an alternative to keeping asylum seekers in hotels.

Another is RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire – the former home of the RAF’s Dambusters squadron. Northeye Prison in Bexhill, East Sussex, will also be used.

The government announced the policy after coming under sustained pressure to end the use of hotels because of the cost to taxpayers – estimated to be around £6m a day.

However, this policy met with objections from a number of local deputies and the local council.

Braintree Borough Council said it strongly believes an “isolated” location is not suitable due to the “low capacity of local services”.

Local MP James Cleverley, who is also Foreign Secretary, has previously spoken out against the plans.