Communication needs to improve over accommodation for asylum seekers

Council wants to put support system in place

Councillors in Torridge want to be better informed when locations are chosen to accommodate asylum seekers.

They are lobbying Conservative MP Geoffrey Cox to put pressure on the government for improved communications between housing providers and local authorities when hotels and houses of multiple occupation (HMO) are selected.

Several private companies have contracts with the Home Office to provide homes for refugees.

There was frustration in Ilfracombe last May when between 55 and 130 asylum seekers were bussed into the town overnight and checked into the Dilkhusa Grand Hotel without North Devon Council’s knowledge.

Torridge District Council’s external and overview committee was told no information is available of what is in the pipeline for the Torridge area.

Deputy leader of the council Claire Hodson (Ind, Westward Ho!) said because the local authority had no knowledge of what was happening during the Ilfracombe situation, it was “quite shocking”.

“When we are expressing a welcome to people from different countries, why are we not being consulted so at least we can prepare and know what’s going on in our own areas?

“It’s not to stop them coming, but to help make sure people are not protesting or Facebook warriors screaming it’s not fair that they are being given housing.

“This is a government contract, so we need to be lobbying our MP to make them enforce some reasonable terms within that contract. These companies are accepting government money so we should have some clear expectations that they will work with local authorities.”

The council’s monitoring officer Staci Dorey said: “They are supposed to be informing us if something happens, but indications are that that still isn’t happening. They are a law unto themselves.

“They work quite separately from us, but it would be easier from a planning and community prospective for us to be aware and we could put that support system in place.”

James Lewis from the Pickwick Foundation, which works with authorities in North Devon to support the Homes for Ukraine and Afghan Resettlement Scheme, said there was an element of consultation with the police over using an HMO in Barnstaple for asylum seekers but added: “It’s not great.”

Torridge council is seeking clarification on ongoing funding for Ukrainian refugees, after hearing that the national focus is now on Ukrainians returning to their own country.

Committee members were told visas are now being issued for 18 months rather than three years, despite the ongoing war with Russia, many refugees don’t have homes to return to.

Funding had reduced by half and there is uncertainty over whether the £500 per week for host families would continue.