Council boss invites PM to planned asylum site

North Yorkshire Council's leader has written to the prime minister inviting him to visit the planned asylum centre at the former RAF Linton-on-Ouse base.

Carl Les wrote: "I know you are committed to place-based decision making. I have lived in North Yorkshire all my life and served its people for close to 30 years and I write to invite you personally to join me to listen to the community concerns on this issue first hand."

The Home Office has previously said no final decision has been made on the site's future.

A spokesperson said: "As part of the process, we engage with local authorities and police forces to ensure the safety and security of those in the surrounding area."

In the open letter, Les, a Conservative councillor, quoted Andy Burnham, who said he was unaware of the reasons the 2022 proposals to accommodate asylum seekers at the site did not go ahead.

"That relates to a previous government and we don't always get to see why that decision was taken," the prime minister told BBC Politics North last month.

In the same interview, Burnham also said he was prepared to look at the concerns of the Linton community, and "what could be done to mitigate those concerns".

"I will make sure the Home Office are fully accountable to people in North Yorkshire on this particular issue and the precise area concerned," the prime minister said.

Les wrote that the reasons he and others see Linton as "not suitable" for 1,200 asylum seekers include its remote location, the lack of infrastructure, concerns for the wellbeing of asylum seekers and the impact on the small, rural community of Linton-on-Ouse.

"I would be happy to discuss this in more detail," he said.

"I am inviting you to come with me to the village at your earliest convenience. I want to be clear that we understand the government's objective to move away from hotels for asylum seekers and your language around fairness and parity."

Prof Olga Matthias, a spokesperson for the Linton-on-Ouse Action Group, said: "It's important that the prime minister sees the village and the proposed site for himself, because when reality meets ideology, it becomes obvious that reality wins hands down."

Matthias claimed that the plan to use the Linton site showed the prime minister was "abandoning the principle" that every community should take its fair share of asylum seekers.

"Rather than tackling community concerns about hotels and cost, this plan is to force a mega hotel into the centre of a small community, at a projected cost of £853 per asylum seeker per night," she added.

The group claims that under its calculations the cost of using Linton-on-Ouse could reach at least £853 per asylum seeker per night, if the centre's operational lifespan was reduced to around 20 to 22 months.

That figure is a campaign group estimate rather than a Home Office projection.

Earlier this month, York and North Yorkshire's Labour deputy mayor for policing, Jo Coles, said government officials had indicated the former RAF Linton-on-Ouse site could be returned to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for redevelopment by 2029.

The Home Office previously said it did not recognise an earlier action group calculation, which put the cost at more than £400 per person per night.

Downing Street did not respond directly to questions about Les's invitation, or comment on whether the prime minister would accept it.

Instead, it referred the questions to the Home Office, from where a spokesperson said the government was working to close every asylum hotel, a move, the Home Office said, has saved taxpayers more than £1bn on asylum support since the 2024 general election.

"We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites which are designed to be self-contained to reduce impact on the local community," the spokesperson added.

The RAF base closed in 2020 and the MOD stated that it would be sold.

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