Home Secretary to visit Linton-on-Ouse villagers affected by asylum centre
It's believed Priti Patel is expected to hear first hand the concerns of the community when she visits North Yorkshire
Home Secretary Priti Patel will go to Linton-on-Ouse to hear for herself locals' concerns about a planned centre for 1,500 asylum seekers.
That's according to Home Office officials who were told it is a village "in crisis".
Senior civil servants from the department were questioned for two hours by residents at the village hall on Thursday evening following the decision to use a disused North Yorkshire RAF base as an accommodation centre.
One villager asked if the Home Secretary will be coming to hear for herself their concerns about security and the impact on local services.
Senior Home Office official Cheryl Avery told around 200 people in the room: "Yes. That is a part of our plan to make sure that she comes along and meets with everybody here, and you have an opportunity to speak to her at some point.
"We're trying to work out with her office to get some time in her diary. But it is our intention for her to come along."
Linton resident Aundrea Watson told the meeting nobody in government had "one iota what the impact is on our mental health and wellbeing".
She said: "The villagers are in crisis, and I mean crisis right now.
"People are upset, people are leaving their homes because of the press and the protests that are already happening.
"What you're not taking on board is the fact that 1,500 men of unknown origin are coming to our village of 600 adults.
"In proportion, that's about 300 women to 1,500 men."
Ms Avery told the meeting: "Thank for sharing that sense of what the emotion is in the village. I understand where you are coming from with that.
"What we want to do is to understand the extent of that emotion. We want to start drop-in sessions and want to bring you on site to show you around."
Ms Avery added: "We're not going to land 1,500 people on you in one go. That's not our intention. We want to continue to work with you."
She admitted that the Home Office was on the "back foot" in terms of communicating with the community but promised this would improve.
Residents were told how the site would be managed by the firm Serco, who described how the "state-of-the-art" security regime would work.
However, officials confirmed that people housed on the base would be able to come and go at will.
All meals and other activities will be available on site and those housed there will have buses available to take them into the larger towns in the area, like York.
Earlier this week, Hambleton District Council says it has asked the Government to pause the controversial proposal "immediately".
The authority has previously announced it was seeking a judicial review of the plans and says it has now appointed a legal team.