On 19 October 2026, the Daily Express reported that “calculations revealed” a planned asylum centre at the former RAF Linton-on-Ouse base would “cost taxpayers £270m” – between £443 and £853 per bed per night.

It matters because the figure is being used to stoke opposition to the site, and readers were given no way to judge how firm it is.

The facts

The figures are the Linton-on-Ouse Action Group’s own projections, not Home Office costings. They assume the site runs for less than two years, based on a July 2029 handback date that the Deputy Mayor described as her “understanding” and asked the Home Office to confirm.

The Home Office says it is still considering the site, and that if approved it would be used for at least three years – spreading fixed costs over more nights. No decision has been made, and the Government has published no cost estimate for Linton-on-Ouse.

In August, the same group put the cost at £403.4m over three years. The Home Office said it did not recognise those figures.

A total of this scale is not impossible: the National Audit Office put expected lifetime costs for the larger Wethersfield and Scampton sites at £339m and £404m. But nothing in the article shows £270m is the likely cost.

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