Plans to house asylum seekers at a military base would be illegal due to the site being home to a rare, protected bird, a councillor has said.
RAF Barnham, just south of the Norfolk/Suffolk border, has become the focus of weeks of anger since the Home Office earmarked it as one of three sites to house a total of 3,750 asylum seekers.
The plans may face their biggest hurdle yet in the form of the stone-curlew, which nests in the countryside around the site.
The stone-curlew’s habitats are protected by law and Cliff Waterman, Labour leader of West Suffolk Council, said it meant the site could not be used for asylum seeker accommodation.
The Home Office said any proposals would be subject to all relevant legal, environmental and regulatory requirements.
The military base lies within the Breckland Special Protection Area, an internationally designated wildlife zone which stretches across Norfolk and Suffolk.
Barnham Cross Common, which borders the base, also carries its own protections as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
The areas have earned the protections largely because they are habitats for stone-curlews and other rare birds.
The stone-curlew is an elusive bird, sensitive to human disturbance, and it relies on the area’s mixture of bare, stony ground and short-grazed grass to forage.
The birds have repeatedly disrupted planning applications in and around the Brecks in the past.