West Lindsey Council: What to expect from the Scampton hearing

West Lindsey Council will apply for a full Judicial Review, which could potentially halt the plans.

Set for July 12 and 13, the case in London will hear testimonies from different members of the local authority.

The Judicial Review would challenge the Home Office decision to use RAF Scampton, claiming they have acted unlawfully by ignoring the potentially £300 million redevelopment plan for the site.

They also believe the decision relies on a planning concept called temporary permitted development rights. This would only grant permission for much shorter time than housing is expected to be at the site.

Braintree Council is also expected to express its stance on similar plans to house up to 1,700 migrants at RAF Wethersfield in Essex.

West Lindsey Council has been here before. In May, the council was unsuccessful in obtaining an urgent injunction from the High Court.

It would have required the Home Office to wait while comprehensive legal challenges to the plans were examined.

Prominent figures in the ongoing fight, including Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative MP for Gainsboroug, were in court to here the disappointing news.

However, it emerged during the hearing government officials had recommended RAF Scampton was not suitable for housing migrants. Home Secretary Suella Braverman apparently overruled them.

Since then, preparations have since commenced, with site investigators already seen at the location.

Sally Grindrod-Smith, council director of planning regeneration and communities, said the council had been forced to take the government to court over the dispute.

She said: “The council does not take lightly this application for Judicial Review. However, given the impact of the Home Office plans on our £300m investment, we have been left with no choice.”

Last week, the council’s planning committee rejected plans to move the grave of Guy Gibson’s dog to RAF Marham, instilling a “glimmer of hope” ahead of the hearing next week, despite similar legal challenges facing obstacles elsewhere.

Coun Roger Patterson, member for Scampton, referred to it as the “first victory” in the council’s campaign against the proposed changes to the cherished former airbase.

He said: “On planning reasons, tonight we managed to stop the dog from being moved, and I think we’ve got enough planning reasons to go to a judicial review and more than enough planning reasons to stop this nonsense and get on with our lives.

Nevertheless, should further legal challenges prove unsuccessful, it is anticipated the first contingent of 200 single men, predominantly from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran, will arrive in mid-August.

What happens if permission is granted?

Should the High Court grant the the council permission to apply for a judicial review, the case will advance to a final hearing.

This usually occurs within 35 days of the decision to grant permission. the Home Office must file and serve its detailed grounds of resistance, setting out in more detail the basis on which it is defending the claim.

The final judicial review will then ultimately determine whether plans to establish a migrant camp at the former home of the Dambusters can go ahead.

Coun Patterson believes the council’s case is much stronger than that of Linton-on-Ouse, which previously won its judicial review.

However, Sir Edward warned that even if permission is granted, they may not be able to delay the first group of arrivals.

What happens if permission is denied?

If the council’s request for permission is denied, plans to house migrants at RAF Scampton are set to proceed for what is believed to be a project duration of at least three years.

Hampshire-based contractor Serco will be in charge of maintaining the supervision of those housed at the historic site.

The migrant camp is expected to process about 5,000 young men in its first year of operation, though only hosting 2,000 at any one time.

When the plans were first announced in March, immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the asylum-seekers would be provided with portable buildings, intended to “meet the essential living needs and nothing more”.

The site will be self-contained, but migrants living on the premises will be free to come and go as they please.

The situation would stall Scampton Holdings’ ambitious £300 million heritage, enterprise and tourism project, which had the potential to create thousands of highly-skilled jobs.