Home Office contractors informed Broadland District Council on Monday morning that it was withdrawing plans to temporarily house Afghan refugees in the former officers’ mess at the base, near Badersfield.
Badersfield (Image: Antony Kelly)
The refugees are Afghans – and their families – who worked with the British following the invasion of their country in 2001.
They have been given permission to relocate and resettle in the UK and the Home Office wanted to use the Norfolk site to allow time to find them settled accommodation elsewhere.
Plans to house refugees at the former RAF Coltishall site have been withdrawn (Image: Sonya Duncan)
Home Office contractors BM Trust emailed officers at Broadland to announce the withdrawal of the proposals, but did not give a reason for the decision.
However, the applicant had been putting pressure on the council for a quick decision over the plans and previously said it was “imperative” a decision was made no later than February.
The application was not on the agenda for Broadland’s February planning committee and was also absent from the agenda for last week’s meeting.
The proposal had met with resistance from some of the residents in Badersfield, who claimed the area was unsuitable because of a lack of facilities.
Some had put up posters around the village protesting against the plans.
Posters were put up in Badersfield (Image: Submitted)
Buxton with Lamas Parish Council, Horstead with Stanninghall Parish Council and Coltishall Parish Council have also objected, saying the site is not suitable.
Officials at the NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board had also raised concerns about the impact of needing to register 200 people with GPs – at a time when many are already at capacity.
Government ministers found themselves under mounting pressure to find suitable accommodation for migrants, following widespread protests last year.
Unlike those currently housed in hotels – which have been the focus for the demonstrations – the migrants who would have moved to Badersfield were refugees, not asylum seekers.