Housing asylum seekers in a former military base is set to cost the taxpayer at least “£500 a night”, protesters claimed.
Labour announced it would house 1,200 migrants at a former RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse, North Yorkshire, earlier this year as part of the Government’s bid to close all asylum hotels by 2029.
However, a campaign group formed of local Yorkshire residents rallying against the plans have calculated the cost of each guest at the migrant camp, which is far higher than housing the migrants in hotels.
In a hefty 27-page-long appeal, villagers ripped into the “insane” move that risks handing more than £400million to migrants over its three-year runtime.
Olga Matthias, who is the spokesman for the Linton-on-Ouse Action Group, declared it was an ineffective use of Britons’ hard-earned cash.
He said: “The projected costs simply do not match the standard of care required for asylum seekers, nor do they represent an effective use of taxpayer funds with the cost per night being much higher than any other alternative.
“Yes, solutions need to be found, but in areas with existing infrastructure and asylum services where the huge investment for refitting, upgrading water, electric and sewage infrastructure is not required.”
Based on National Audit Office (NAO) costs for a similar abandoned scheme, they totted up the true cost, which they warned could come to more than £500 a night.
RAF Linton-on-Ouse is set to have a six to one male-to-female ratio under new plans, with 1,200 male asylum seekers set to move into the disused military base | PA
As it stands, migrants cost hard-working Britons £145 a night in various hotels up and down the country while they are only meant to be assigned to £23.25 in traditional accommodation.
However, the new RAF base will be 20 times the cost of what they are meant to be enjoyed on the taxpayers’ dime.
The North Yorkshire site — where Prince William trained during his military service in 2008 — also has a primary school, nursery and children’s play area all situated within a mile of the premises.
The proximity of the site to the school has “ramped up the concerns of the community”, local councillor Malcolm Taylor previously said.
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Locals have railed against plans to house 1,200 migrants in a military base in Thetford
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The campaign group has also laid their safeguarding concerns bare in the same document as their calculations, echoing the very same worry locals are experiencing in similarly impacted areas.
Linton-on-Ouse is one of three military bases earmarked to house 3,750 migrants, disrupting villagers near Barnham in Suffolk and Piddington, Bicester in Oxfordshire.
Children from Piddington wrote to the Prime Minister to express concerns about the use of MoD Bicester earlier in August.
However, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said disused military bases represent the future of asylum accommodation in Britain – and it would make up Labour’s long-term strategy to house asylum seekers.
“We think that can have a better impact on the ability to crowd in services on a site rather than other models providing accommodation,” the Home Secretary said.
The Home Office insists using military barracks will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds after £2.1billion was spent on housing asylum seekers in hotels last year.
Two migrant camps in disused MoD sites have already been established in East Sussex’s Crowborough training camp and RAF Wethersfield in Essex.
Andy Burnham also announced he would look to redistribute asylum seekers more evenly across the country after the Home Office revealed earlier this year that the North East and North West housed a disproportionate number of asylum seekers per capita.
The East of England, South East of England and South West of England sat below the national average, as well as Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.