The Home Office has confirmed that it has laid a Special Development Order (SDO) in Parliament for its continued use of the former RAF Scampton as an asylum accommodation centre.
The SDO gives planning permission for the Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to extend the use of the asylum accommodation centre at Scampton for a further three years, with up to six months decommissioning following. This comes as their emergency permitted development rights (known as Class Q) expire in April.
The Council has previously made its view clear that it is against this method of obtaining planning permission by way of an SDO, citing concerns over lack of transparency and opportunity for public consultation. The Council was given the opportunity to provide its comments on the SDO process where it raised various concerns including impact on Heritage as well as the lack of information provided and the failure to ensure meaningful engagement with stakeholders and the local community.
Following a review of occupancy capacity at RAF Scampton site, the Home Office confirmed it has decided to cap the regular occupancy to a maximum of 800 service users from the original 2,000 with a caveat to extend this by a further 300 if needed. However, the SDO which has been laid still retains the 2,000-service user capacity.
A factsheet is published on the GOV website, which provides updated accurate and factual information about the asylum accommodation centre: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-accommodation-scampton/scampton-factsheet
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