Braintree Council drops legal challenge over Home Office plan for RAF Wethersfield asylum centre

A council has withdrawn proposed legal challenges over Home Office plans to house asylum seekers at a former RAF base.

Braintree District Council was set to launch further challenges over the Government's plans for RAF Wethersfield.

It lost a High Court battle in December when judge Mrs Justice Thornton ruled that the decision to house asylum seekers at the bases was lawful.

The Home Office secured Special Development Orders for the site earlier this year, with Parliament granting planning permission after an environmental assessment of the department's plans.

In a statement, the council said on Thursday that it would also withdraw its own legal challenge, claiming it was "no longer expedient".

It said the Home Office granting permission for the site made the arguments for a potential appeal "academic".

The authority added it wanted to "reserve funding and resources in order to robustly consider any potential future enforcement action that may arise under the Special Development Order".

Graham Butland, leader of Braintree District Council, said: "We've stated since day one that we do not agree with the approach the Government has taken by using the site for large-scale asylum accommodation, and bypassing us as the local planning authority to grant itself permission, which meant the opportunity for communities' voices to be heard was lost.

"We've spent the last few months carefully considering our legal challenge and with the Special Development Order now in place, we feel at this time it is within the best interest to safeguard our resources and money.

"The cost of the legal challenges has had to be met by taxpayers across the whole of the Braintree district, which has been an important consideration as part of this decision."

The Home Office has been approached for comment.

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