Wethersfield legal challenge bill will be paid for by taxpayers

Braintree District Council's legal bill is estimated to be in the region of £234,000

The cost of a failed legal challenge against the government over an asylum accommodation centre will be paid for by taxpayers, a council has confirmed.

MDP Wethersfield in Essex, a former RAF station, could house as many as 1,700 male asylum seekers and the first migrants arrived there in July.

Braintree District Council challenged the government in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

The legal bill is estimated at about £234,000.

The council's Conservative leader Graham Butland told a full council meeting that the exact cost was "unknown" but that it would be covered by council tax bills across the district.

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On Monday, he also said he was "disappointed" that a High Court judge dismissed the council's latest attempt to force a judicial review.

The council contested the government's use of emergency planning rules to develop the site.

"Since March [the council] has worked tirelessly on behalf of our communities to legally challenge the Home Office's decision," he told councillors, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He added that the local authority had "a lot of work to do to digest" the recent full judgement from Mrs Justice Thornton.

At capacity, the centre is intended for a maximum of 1,700 male migrants

The former RAF station is located about six miles north-west of Braintree town.

Wethersfield is in the constituency of Home Secretary James Cleverly.

Mr Butland told colleagues that if the council appealed against the latest High Court decision, another hearing would not take place until June or July next year, and that it would incur greater costs for local taxpayers.