Lack of thought on asylum plan

Concerns must be addressed

BORIS JOHNSON’S assertion that a large processing centre for asylum seekers in Lintonon-Ouse is pivotal to his Government’s immigration strategy is likely to provoke anger not just in the village but much more widely in Yorkshire.

The degree of consternation expressed at the notion of housing up to 1,500 asylum seekers – who are likely to be predominantly single young men – at a former military base in a small village is entirely understandable.

There can be no doubt that Britain needs to solve the problem of people making potentially lethal crossings of the Channel in small boats, but serious questions have to be asked about whether dumping them into a community in North Yorkshire is the right solution.

It is unacceptable that the residents of Linton-on-Ouse were not consulted before the plans were announced. Legal challenges being mounted by Hambleton Council are certain to expose a lack of thought on the Government’s part about the impact the processing centre would have.

Despite the Prime Minister’s insistence on the role Linton-on-Ouse must play, there is a woeful lack of detail about what this is going to involve.

Will those housed in the former RAF camp be at liberty to go out and about in the local area? What facilities are there to keep them occupied? How long can they expect to be in the centre before decisions are made about their futures?

Residents of the village, and the wider area, deserve answers to these and many more questions. Through no fault of their own, the people of Lintonon-Ouse find themselves at the centre of what is bound to become a bitter political and legal row over a controversial immigration policy.

No consideration has been given to these residents when they should have been at the forefront of ministers’ minds.