RAF Scampton: Villagers tell of relief as asylum plan scrapped

Further down the street I spot professional dog walker Simone Hunt, and ask her if the pushback was borne from a genuine desire to preserve history or mistrust of asylum seekers.

“It’s not racist at all,” she tells me. “It’s about keeping our community safe. Some of these people will not have arrived in the UK with passports. How will anyone have known their backgrounds?

“That road, next to RAF Scampton, is extremely busy. There is no pavement. There will have been accidents. It just wasn’t the right place.”

Everywhere in the village there are reminders of the Dambusters. A silhouette of a Lancaster – the type flown by Wg Cdr Guy Gibson’s men – welcomes visitors to 617 Court, a housing estate.

Here, joiner Andy World, 45, and roofer James Wilson, 56, are carrying out repairs to a property.

“I think it’s great news,” says Mr Wilson, reacting to the government’s decision. “A lot of our heritage would have gone to rot and ruin had they [asylum seekers] come here.

“That wartime heritage would have meant nothing to them, but it does to people living here.”

Mr World adds: “Campaigners have been out, standing in front of RAF Scampton, for months, and the people have finally been heard.”

One resident offered an alternative view, telling me: “These people need to live somewhere. I would not have been frightened by them.”