Campaigners fighting plans for an asylum centre on a former North Yorkshire RAF base have spoken out after their bid to petition the government over the plans was rejected due to it being a “local” issue.
Members of the Linton-on-Ouse Action Group attempted to launch an official House of Commons petition calling for the government to cancel plans to use the nearby former military base to house migrants.
But the petition was rejected by officials because it “requested action at a local level”.
Olga Matthias, spokesperson for the group, has branded this decision as “ridiculous”.
She said the group produced a petition containing 3,000 signatures when previous plans to use the site were proposed in 2022, adding: “We went to the trouble of preparing an updated petition to reflect the updated situation
“It is fair, right and proper that we do a petition as a way of showing the voice of the people, but it’s been rejected.”
Ms Matthias said it was “contradictory” to describe the asylum centre plans as a local issue as it was part of national government policy.
She added: “They said it requests actional at a local level but this will not be decided locally.
“The government has already said it will go through the national planning system, in other words they’re going to authorise these things themselves.”
The House of Commons said in its response to the campaign group: “We can’t accept petitions that call for action at a local level. You could ask your MP to take action on your concerns about this issue, including by asking them to present a public (paper) petition about this.”
A House of Commons spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that petitions had to be approved by the petitions committee and applicants could seek an explanation of the reason for the rejection of their petition for this team.
Around three-quarters of e-petitions were rejected, they added.
The Home Office revealed plans to house up to 3,750 people at Linton, and former RAF bases at Bicester in Oxfordshire and Barnham in Suffolk, with around 1,200 single men potentially located at the North Yorkshire site.
Commenting on the wider asylum centre plans, a Home Office spokesperson said: “The concerns of communities are central to our immigration reforms which is why we are working with local authorities and others to fairly disperse asylum seekers across basic accommodation including ex-military sites. Five military sites are either in use or being explored to house asylum seekers.
“We are seeing results. The population of asylum seekers in hotels has fallen by 35 per cent in the last year and by 63 per cent from the peak under the previous government. Overall asylum costs have already fallen by £1bn since this Government was elected.”
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