Scrapped plans to house asylum seekers at a former RAF base in North Yorkshire would have cost more than £32m, according to reports.
Plans to open an asylum centre at the former RAF base at Linton-on-Ouse were scrapped in August after opposition from nearby residents and Hambleton District Council.
Now it has been revealed in documents reportedly obtained by the BBC that Serco, the company which won the contract to run the now-axed centre, would have been paid £32.8m to run the site on a two-year contract.
The controversial plans for an accommodation and processing centre for 1,500 asylum seekers in the small village of Linton-on-Ouse were announced by the Home Office in April, with around 60 men expected to be housed there by the end of May.
But the move was delayed, with a letter to Hambleton District Council in May saying “no final decision” about the site had been made by ministers.
The plans were met with significant opposition from residents of the village, near York, while the local authority said it would seek a judicial review of the proposals.
They were scrapped in August following an announcement from Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
At the time Mr Wallace said: “I have obligations to do something else with that site and there are other sites that have been made available to the Home Office if they wish to take it up.”
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