Policing concerns add to list of growing reasons why the Linton-on-Ouse asylum seeker centre plans are inappropriate

Yet another major flaw in the Government’s plans to house asylum seekers at a former RAF base in Linton-on-Ouse is becoming apparent. David Skaith, the Labour mayor for York and North Yorkshire, would put “considerable pressure” on the police force amid wider public safety fears.

Mr Skaith has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood highlighting public safety concerns with the plan, and calling on the Home Office to fund additional policing resources should it go ahead.

The Government has applied for planning permission to house around 1,300 migrants which is roughly double the size of Linton-on-Ouse. That in itself should ring alarm bells in Whitehall.

But instead of accepting that these plans are not only unacceptable to the villagers of Linton-on-Ouse but also inappropriate for all concerned, the Government continues to ride roughshod over local advice and sentiment.

This is the exact opposite of putting power into the hands of communities that the Prime Minister so often opines about.

It seems as if the Labour Government has become fixated with the goal of ending the practice of housing migrants in hotels without careful consideration of where they are being shifted to.

The idea of the people of Linton-on-Ouse having asylum seekers dropped on their doorstep in the name of fairness is absurd. It has to be about suitability and Linton-on-Ouse is everything but suitable.

If these ill-conceived plans do go ahead, there is no way that the Government can get away with not providing additional funding for policing, given the concerns already raised.