What next for RAF Scampton after asylum seeker plan scrapped?
The future of a former RAF base in Lincolnshire is once again under the spotlight after the government dropped plans to house asylum seekers on the site.
The disused RAF Scampton had been earmarked by the last Conservative government as a reception centre for up to 2,000 migrants at any one time.
But Labour announced on Thursday that they would follow through on an election pledge to ditch the proposals.
The Home Office said the idea, which was designed to reduce the number of asylum seekers staying in taxpayer-funded hotel rooms, was not cost effective.
Officials said the plan had already cost £60million and would have cost £122million by the end of 2027.
Now the government is set to put the land at Scampton - once home to the famous Dambusters squadron and later the Red Arrows aerobatics team - up for sale on the open market.
What will happen to RAF Scampton?
Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said on Thursday: "The government will close the site immediately and sell it in line with an established process for disposing of Crown land."
That raises questions about the future of a £300million plan - drawn up before the asylum centre proposals were first mooted - to build a heritage centre, hotels and an educational facility alongside a working runway on the 800-acre site.
Conservative MP for Gainsborough Sir Edward Leigh told ITV News: "We don't want the government to sell [Scampton] for the highest price for housing."
But West Lindsey District Council leader Trevor Young said he was hopeful the redevelopment plan would still go ahead.
He said: "Today we can finally put to bed an incredibly difficult period for our community and focus time, energy and resource on this once in a generation opportunity to honour the heritage of this site."
He told ITV News: "For the last 18 months we've done virtually nothing but concentrate on trying to protect this site and our £300million development.
"We would hope in the next few weeks that we start having positive dialogue with the government in terms of how this site transfers to us.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring together the heritage of the site but also some investment in terms of creating new jobs around tech and aerospace."
Mr Young also hinted at a revival of Scampton's aeronautical past.
He said: "We hope to get some interest in terms of the local university. It would be great if the Red Arrows could come back."
Scampton Holdings Limited is behind the regeneration project.
Chairman Peter Hewitt told ITV News: "Clearly there's a lot to go yet. We want to make sure the deal with the Home Office is as originally conceived. Then it will be a case of getting some employment in there and getting the site used.
"It's very difficult to tell the time scale as we haven't been allowed on the site.
On utilising the site's runway at the former home of the Dambusters squadron, he said: "Clearly aviation space, drones and autonomous craft are really where we're going to be majoring."
What will happen to the asylum seekers?
The Conservatives' justification for using Scampton to house asylum seekers was that taxpayers were facing an existing bill of £60million a day to pay for hotel rooms.
But with the number of people entering the UK by small boats increasing all the time, Labour now faces questions about where those individuals will be accommodated.
In a statement to MPs Dame Angela Eagle said that the government now intends to "return to using long-standing dispersed asylum accommodation and will do so as soon as is practicable, once we have made progress on clearing the backlog".
When questioned by the press, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declined to say where asylum seekers would now be housed.
She said: "The action that we have immediately taken is to significantly increase the number of returns [of migrants] since the general election and we are also working now to close the backlog so that we can end these very costly asylum hotels."
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