Braintree District Council has withdrawn a legal challenge over the Government's use of former airfield RAF Wethersfield to house asylum seekers.

Last year, a judicial review determined that the Home Office could continue using the site, as well as RAF Scampton, another former airfield in Lincolnshire, as asylum accommodation.

Along with West Lindsey District Council, whose area includes RAF Scampton, Braintree had been due to appeal the decision in June.

But earlier this week, West Lindsey announced it had reached an ‘agreement in principle’ with the Home Office, meaning it had to withdraw any outstanding legal action.

Yesterday, Braintree also said it was withdrawing its appeal because the Home Office had obtained a special development order (SDO), which extends the use of RAF Wethersfield as asylum accommodation by three years.

Braintree said this planning permission, which came into force last month, meant it was no longer ‘expedient’ to pursue an appeal because it had previously argued against the Home Office’s use of emergency permitted development rights.

Council leader Graham Butland said: ‘We’ve stated since day one that we do not agree with the approach the government has taken by using the site for large scale asylum accommodation, and bypassing us as the local planning authority to grant itself permission, which meant the opportunity for communities’ voices to be heard was lost.

‘We’ve spent the last few months carefully considering our legal challenge and with the SDO now in place, we feel at this time it is within the best interest to safeguard our resources and money.’