Ex-RAF base temporary housing plan withdrawn

Plans to convert a former airbase into temporary housing for up to 200 Afghan refugees have been withdrawn.

BM Trust Ltd had previously applied for permission to use empty buildings for 12 months at the former RAF Coltishall in Norfolk to provide housing for families who worked with British forces and fled Afghanistan after the Taliban resumed control.

In its original application to Broadland District Council, BM Trust said the proposal related to Afghan refugees "not asylum seekers".

Acting on behalf of the applicant, Mark Philpot, managing director of One Planning, said they wished to withdraw the application "with immediate effect", but have not said why.

Under its Afghan Resettlement Programme, the government had been asking local councils to help find accommodation.

A former officers' mess, Jaguar House, would have been used as part of the plans.

However, the application received 17 objections from members of the public.

More than 50 people attended a meeting of Buxton with Lamas Parish Council in October, which lodged an objection as well.

It said the building had been left to deteriorate, would not be fit for purpose and the infrastructure was not sufficient to accommodate such numbers of people.

The former airbase straddles the border of Broadland and North Norfolk.

North Norfolk District Council acknowledged the "significant pressure" faced by the government, but said Badersfield — as the base village is now known — was a "highly rural location" with very basic community facilities.

Jaguar House has remained mostly vacant since the airbase closed 20 years ago and was used as an assessment centre for asylum seekers between April 2020 and February 2021.

The Home Office sought to use it for the same purpose in 2022, but dropped the plan.

The BBC has approached BM Trust Ltd about why it has decided to withdraw the application.

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