PM’s £230m on asylum housing sites

THE Prime Minister has promised to use RAF Scampton as asylum accommodation for the “shortest possible time” after a National Audit Office (NAO) report, published on Wednesday, March 20, found asylum accommodation will cost tens of millions of pounds more than using hotels.

It also comes off the back of the Home Office confirming the number of asylum seekers to be housed at RAF Scampton will be reduced from 2,000 to 800.

On March 15, West Lindsey District Council (WLDC) confirmed a date set for a High Court appeal against the Home Office’s asylum seeker plans at RAF Scampton which scuppered a £300 million investment deal for the site.

Gainsborough MP Sir Edward Leigh, who has been vocal in his opposition to the government’s Scampton plans, asked the Prime Minister if Mr Pursglove could meet with himself and WLDC officials urgently to discuss releasing most of the base for its £300 million regeneration.

In response, Mr Sunak said: “We will have closed 100 hotels on top of cutting small boat arrivals. I know [Sir Edward Leigh] is talking to the minister for legal migration about how best to accommodate a smaller number of asylum seekers safely at RAF Scampton whilst recognising the council’s ambitious plans for regeneration.

“I fully support those discussions and the government is committed to the site being used for accommodation for the shortest possible time and then released to the benefit of the local community.”

The NAO report also found that the Home Office originally estimated set-up costs at the former RAF bases would be £5 million each, but they increased to £49 million for Wethersfield and £27 million for Scampton. By the end of March, the department expects to have spent at least £230 million developing the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset, the former RAF bases at Scampton in and Wethersfield and ex-student accommodation in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.