Village’s opposition to asylum centre ‘surprised Home Office’
Officials wrongfooted by campaign against plans to use former RAF base
VILLAGERS IN Linton-on-Ouse who have joined forces to campaign against controversial plans to open an asylum centre in their community believe they have surprised the Home Office with their levels of organisation.
In April, the Government announced plans to open an asylum centre that could house up to 1,500 lone men in a former RAF base in the village, which has around 650 residents.
The plans, revealed on the same day Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that many asylum seekers would be flown to Rwanda in a controversial deal with the country, shocked villagers who, for the most part, heard about them through social media.
Within days, a 15-strong group formed together determined to fight the Home Office against the proposals, with numbers only increasing as the weeks go on.
It has seen campaigners stage a 100-strong protest as government officials visited the village twice to try to do damage control against a swathe of opposition, including from the area’s Conservative MP, Kevin Hollinrake.
The group has organised maildrops to Priti Patel and the Prime Minister.
Between them the campaigners have spent dozens of hours researching legislation and asylum policy as they desperately attempt to put the centre on hold or force the Government to abandon their plans altogether.
For Sarah Faulkner, a 39-yearold administrator, it’s not the first time she’s been involved in a campaign.
Ten years ago Ms Faulkner was instrumental in the NoMorePage3 protests, which eventually saw The Sun newspaper stop using topless models.
She’s been able to bring some of those skills back into action as one of the social media co-ordinators of the campaigns.
“I don’t think the Home Office was expecting the level of kick-back they’ve got,” she says. “I think they thought ‘oh, they’ll put a few signs up and have a little protest’. And that’s not what’s happened.
“They’ve certainly seemed a bit
taken aback. We’ve got so many skills – people from so many different backgrounds and every walk of life. The research skills are amazing.
“We’ve asked people to find examples of previous facilities and legal challenges, and we’ve got a great big chart now of all the things that have happened in the past that we can use.
“Although we’re learning on the job, it’s going pretty well so far.”
Another campaigner, Olga Matthias, a professor of operations management, said: “It’s
gone from sitting around someone’s kitchen table to effectively being full-on campaigners.”
She said it is the first time she has “put her head above the parapet” for such a campaign.
There’s a myriad reasons villagers
are against the centre. At one public meeting, a woman spoke through tears as she told Home Office officials that she would no longer feel safe walking her dog around the village, while others have complained that house prices are dropping, leaving sales precarious.
But among the group are many who are pro-asylum seeker and refugee rights, one male villager who didn’t want to be named explained.
“I think a centre done properly with vastly fewer people could be something the village could be
proud of,” he says. “But I can understand why people don’t want 1,500 asylum seekers brought here. That’s not nimbyism, that’s common sense.
“I’ve been seeking ways we can engage with asylum seekers when they come and making their lives as fulfilling as possible.
“There are people in the village who think anything other that outright hatred for the centre is encouraging it, and I find that very difficult.
“I’m against the centre, but I’m for the people who will be brought here.”
I don’t think the Home Office was expecting the level of kick-back. Sarah Faulkner, who has campaigned against the asylum processing centre.