Campaigners say they are “dusting down the banners” in preparation for a new fight over plans to build an asylum centre on a former North Yorkshire RAF base.
Linton-on-Ouse Action Group has reformed after the Home Office earmarked RAF Linton-on-Ouse as one of three Ministry of Defence sites to provide accommodation for migrants.
Previous plans to use the former base as an asylum centre were abandoned in 2022 amid fierce opposition from the action group and others.
The group has already begun lobbying local politicians over the plan and is creating a new petition for opponents to sign following last week’s announcement.
Olga Matthias, spokesperson for the group, added: “We’ve still got the banners from last time, so we’ll get them dusted down and put back up.”
Prof Matthias said the reasons the first plan was rejected by the then Conservative government still stood today, adding: “Nonsense doesn’t become wisdom just because it’s been in the wilderness for four years.”
The campaigner said the Labour Party was strongly opposed to the previous plan to use the base, accusing Boris Johnson’s government of being “chaotic” for proposing the location without consultation.
She added: “It was taken off the table for all kinds of reasons to do with the location. Transportation access is appalling, the landscape is appalling because it floods, the Yorkshire Water capabilities are maxed out, the power grid is maxed out, fire, police, health, the small school — these all played a role.
“But we’re here again and not only did this current government not consult, but they were going to do it through the back door at 10.30pm on a Thursday — the level of duplicity and incompetence is just unfathomable.
“You’d expect a little bit more planning and foresight from a five-year-old, never mind people in the most powerful positions in the land.”
Prof Matthias said details of the plans were still emerging, but the group was preparing to do all it could to stop them.
“We’re doing everything we can, but at this stage it’s hard to build evidence against any specific thing because of course there is no plan, there’s just this announcement.
“We’re encouraging villages to write to the relevant people and in the Facebook group there are up-to-date contact details and a template letter.
“What is different to 2022 is that we now have a York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority so we have a mayor and another layer of government to contend with.
“There is a cabinet meeting on Friday and we have sent in a statement asking for their support.”
The government says it will seek planning permission to house up to 3,750 people at Linton, and former RAF bases at Bicester in Oxfordshire and Barnham in Suffolk.
It is understood that the North Yorkshire base could be used to accommodate around 1,200 single men, although further details have not been confirmed.
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