Kent and Medway council leaders have called on the government to stop procuring hotel accommodation in the area and stop allocating further adult asylum quotas to counties, with the Home Office further He said he was “surprised” by the request to accommodate 1,300 people.
In a scathing open letter to Interior Secretary Suera Braverman, the 14-member council leaders claimed the region was at a “breaking point”.
Kent’s backlash comes at a time when the need to find asylum seekers’ accommodation has increased after a dramatic increase in the number of people arriving by boat in August and September.
In allocating more asylum-seekers to counties, community leaders said, “Kent currently has only 326 adults in asylum dispersion facilities, less than the regional and national averages per capita.” For reasons,” the Home Office “completely ignored. We face the broader role we played and the additional burdens specific to Kent.”
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“Kent and Medway’s leadership is clear,” the letter continued, denying the reckoning “in the strongest possible terms.”
“Cops work in silos and are unaware, or worse, of the high profile and supportive role that Kent has played over the years and the cumulative burden and impact this has placed on local services and residents. We can conclude that we have misinterpreted future datasets to pre-determined conclusions.”
The letter also criticized the government’s failure to consult on where to place asylum seekers and denounced a “culture of firing local partners”. [which] It’s prevalent in some parts of the Ministry of the Interior.”
He further added:[The] The Home Office consults with statutory partners’ experts on protection, public health, prevention, fire safety, NHS capacity, school locations, facilities or suitability of the site (e.g. deprivation, crime profiles, issues relating to rural areas, etc.). Seeking insight has failed on every occasion. Isolation, trafficking risks, etc.) are only done before the population is in place and, if at all, after a crisis requiring local intervention.
“Each time promises to be a lesson learned, but most recently with this week’s Holiday Inn Ashford Central procurement, the same thing just happened again.”
Ashford Borough Council was notified only after the use of the hotel had been secured. When the council chief executive wrote to the director concerned, he received a delayed response that it “contained errors and was clearly copied and pasted.”
In the correspondence, City Council officials expressed serious concerns about the adequacy of the site, detaining people until outbreak control plans, prevention and protection assessments are in place, and arrangements for health provision and access to schools are in place. Advised not to move. “Staff were informed via social media that a service user had been evicted from another facility in London, despite promises to be notified before the resident moved in.” I needed to know.”
The Kent and Medway leader described this as a “grave failure of duty, a complete disregard for the partner’s statutory obligations.”
The letter added that the risks associated with service users, field staff, communities and public services are intolerable.
“This culture of firing local partners is endemic to some parts of the Home Office. It’s only a matter of time before we have to deal with another serious incident,” it warned.
Four local authorities – East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Great Yarmouth Borough Council – recently issued temporary injunctions against asylum seekers staying in area hotels. Secured. Refused to extend Stoke’s injunction.
An Ashford spokeswoman said there are no plans to take legal action at this time.
Cllr Gerry Clarkson, Executive Leader of Ashford Borough Council, said: [in relation to the Holiday Inn] I am very upset about how the Home Office handled this situation. They are ignoring not only our views, but those of the Kent County Council, Kent Police and local medical services. They have complete disregard for us and the community and this situation will not continue. ”
Letters from the Kent and Medway leaders pleaded with the government to ease the burden on the region and demanded that it “stop using the county as an easy solution to the country’s strategic problems.”
Kent currently cares for 495 Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers (UASC) and supports an additional 1,000 UASC Care Leavers.
Many hotels in the county also accommodate asylum seekers, and there is an asylum seeker processing center in Manston and an asylum seeker processing center in Folkestone and Highes.
The Manston Center is currently believed to hold over 3,000 people, although it was designed to temporarily hold up to 1,600.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The number of people arriving in the UK seeking asylum and needing accommodation has reached record levels, putting unprecedented pressure on the asylum system.
A spokesperson added: “The Government will work with all local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland to provide better accommodation for asylum seekers and end the use of unacceptable hotels. With more than £21m in grants already available to local communities, the authorities will help them meet the challenges in their communities.”
Adam Carey
