The Harrogate-born York and North Yorkshire Mayor has slammed new plans by the Home Office to house asylum seekers at RAF Linton-on-Ouse as “simply the wrong place".

The Home Office has announced it will seek planning permission to use RAF Linton-on-Ouse near York to house more than 1,000 asylum seekers. while their claims are processed.

A similar plan was scrapped in 2022 after public protests and the threat of legal action from the former Hambleton Council.

Mr Skaith, who was elected the first-ever York and North Yorkshire Mayor in 2024, said: “RAF Linton-on-Ouse is simply the wrong place for plans to accommodate large numbers of asylum seekers.

Harrogate-born David Skaith, who was elected the first-ever York and North Yorkshire Mayor in 2024, said: “RAF Linton-on-Ouse is simply the wrong place for plans to accommodate large numbers of asylum seekers". (Picture contributed)

placeholder image — Harrogate-born David Skaith, who was elected the first-ever York and North Yorkshire Mayor in 2024, said: “RAF Linton-on-Ouse is simply the wrong place for plans to accommodate large numbers of asylum seekers". (Picture contributed)

“I have long argued that the future of this site should be housing-led redevelopment, delivering the homes, jobs and investment that York and North Yorkshire urgently need.

"With a serious shortage of housing across our county, RAF Linton-on-Ouse is one of our biggest opportunities to help meet local need and support economic growth.

“That has been the case since the site closed.

“What is most frustrating is that, years after the site's closure, that economic potential remains unrealised.

"This proposal risks putting the site's future development on hold and further delays the homes, jobs and economic investment that local people have been waiting years to see.”

RAF Linton-on-Ouse is one of three Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites the Home Office has proposed using to house almost 4,000 asylum seekers, as the Government seeks to move people out of hotels, with other proposed sites in Oxfordshire and Suffolk.

But the local community is already largely united against the Home Office’s plans for RAF Linton-on-Ouse with the local parish council, Wetherby and Easingwold’s Tory MP Sir Alec Shelbrooke and Jo Coles, North Yorkshire’s Deputy Mayor for Policing, Fire and Crime, all expressing serious concern about the Home Office plans.

Labour’s York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith said: "Local people are rightly asking why a site capable of delivering thousands of homes is still sitting idle while housing pressures continue to grow.

“I will be making it clear to North Yorkshire Council, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence that RAF Linton-on-Ouse should be used to build homes, not house asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, the Home Office has confirmed that Northallerton's Allerton Court Hotel will no longer be used as asylum accommodation after being "returned to the community."