Villagers have invited a Home Office minister to visit a former RAF base near York where the government is proposing to house 1,200 asylum seekers.
Residents said RAF Linton-on-Ouse is “the wrong place” to house the male asylum seekers, as the small village population would be overwhelmed by introducing up to 1,200 new residents.
The Linton Action Group has written to minister Anna Turley, who is also the MP for Redcar, urging her “to see for yourself the place about which such significant decisions may soon be made”.
A Home Office spokesperson said it is “working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities”. They did not respond when asked by The Press if Ms Turley would be visiting Linton-on-Ouse.
In its letter, the Linton Action Group told Ms Turley: “Our message is simple: this is the wrong plan in the wrong place.
“We respectfully invite you to visit Linton-on-Ouse, walk through our village, see the former RAF base and meet the people who would live alongside this proposed centre.
“This is not the first time you have been asked to engage directly over Linton on Ouse.
“We understand that North Yorkshire councillor Malcolm Taylor and Rachael Maskell MP have both invited you to visit Linton on Ouse and see the site for yourself.
“Rachael Maskell has also written to you to make the case for reconsidering the proposal. To date, however, no ministerial visit has followed.
“We therefore renew that invitation publicly and respectfully ask you to respond to it.”
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The group said Linton-on-Ouse is a “small, isolated rural village of around 600 adults and 100 children”, and adding 1,200 male asylum seekers to its population would mean “approximately one woman for every six men and one child for every 18 adults”.
“York is around ten miles away and Easingwold around nine. This is not dispersal across a large urban area with extensive infrastructure. The immediate impact will inevitably be concentrated upon one small rural community,” the group added.
The group also argued that there would have to be “very significant investment” into RAF Linton-on-Ouse, a decommissioned military base, before 1,200 asylum seekers could be housed there.
It said Linton-on-Ouse residents feel “unheard” by the government, despite politicians, including the county’s mayor, raising their concerns with ministers over the proposals.
The group told Ms Turley: “We know how opponents of asylum accommodation proposals can sometimes be characterised. So let us be clear. We are not racists. We are not ignorant. Nor are we indifferent to the challenge the government faces in accommodating people seeking asylum.
“We are residents who have examined this proposal carefully and concluded that putting a facility for up to 1,200 single adult men in and alongside a tiny, isolated rural community is the wrong plan in the wrong place.
“We are intelligent, reasonable people asking for an intelligent, reasonable conversation.”
The group added: “Linton-on-Ouse is only around an hour’s drive from your own Redcar constituency.
“We are not asking you to travel the length of the country; we are asking you to make a short journey to a Yorkshire community directly affected by a policy for which you have ministerial responsibility.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The concerns of communities are central to our immigration reforms. That is why we are closing every asylum hotel and moving asylum seekers into alternative accommodation, including former military sites.
"We are working to fairly house asylum seekers across the country, engaging with local authorities to reduce the impact on communities."
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