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08
Sept
Ripon objects to Linton asylum seeker plans
Ripon City Council is to object to government plans to house 1,200 asylum seekers at the former RAF Linton-on-Ouse airbase.
Last night (September 7) councillors unanimously backed a proposal by Cllr Andrew Williams, who leads the Independent Putting Ripon Before Party Politics group, to object to the Home Office.
Cllr Williams said it was “inconceivable that housing 1,200 people in a community of about 600 people is a sensible policy”.
He said the influx of males would put pressure on local services, especially as the nearest police station is 12 miles away and create tensions:
I am certain that housing 1,200 male occupants in a camp where there is nothing else to do in the village will obviously see potential issues.
You only have to look at the television screens in recent days to see that sadly those from outside local communities are coming and making a considerable nuisance of themselves.
Ripon City Council's meeting on September 7, 2026.
Cllr Williams said he wasn’t a racist or bigot but was speaking out because “when moderate people say nothing on issues that are of real concern to the local community it only leaves the extreme voices to be heard”.
He added:
“In my view they are not asylum seekers, primarily, but economic migrants because they’ve come from a place of safety in France to travel to the UK by paying people smugglers to get them here.”
Ripon, which is 17 miles from Linton, is not the first local authority to object to the plans. Linton-on-Ouse Parish Council, North Yorkshire Council and York and North Yorkshire mayor David Skaith have previously done so.
So has Reform UK-led Scarborough Town Council, which led to accusations of “grandstanding” by Cllr Rich Maw, an independent on North Yorkshire Council and Scarborough Town Council.
The government has said Linton “would provide basic, safe accommodation and would be designed to be largely self sufficient to minimise any impact on the local community”.
It added the proposals were “subject to detailed feasibility assessments, which could take several months to complete”.
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