High Court Grants Permission in RAF Scampton Asylum Accommodation Challenge

Following a two-day hearing, Mrs Justice Thornton has granted West Lindsey District Council permission to judicially review the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s decision to use RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire for the purpose of accommodating asylum seekers. 

Permission was granted on two grounds. Firstly, whether the Secretary of State’s reliance on emergency permitted development rights is lawful in this context. Secondly, whether an Environmental Impact Assessment Screening Direction carried out by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities was adequate in circumstances where it only assessed for the twelve months provided by permitted development rights, despite the Secretary of State for the Home Department’s suggestions elsewhere that she intends to use RAF Scampton for a longer period.

The case will now proceed to a full hearing later on this year. 

Richard Wald KC and Jake Thorold represented West Lindsey District Council, instructed by Legal Services Lincolnshire 

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