Kentish Express Ashford & District
Town praised for work in helping refugees
Farmer tells of torture
Home Secretary Amber Rudd says government grant cuts should not be used by councils as an excuse not to offer homes to Syrian refugees.
Mrs Rudd spoke out on a fact-finding visit to Ashford on Monday to see at first hand the work the authority was doing to help refugees who had fled the country.
She praised the work being done by Ashford Borough Council to provide homes and support to families it has accepted under the government’s Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme. The council has agreed to accept 250 refugees over the next five years, the largest number of any authority in Kent.
She rejected the claim that councils had been reluctant to take part in the initiative because their budgets were being cut by the government. Medway has declined to take part on the grounds it does not have enough money.
She said: “Some councils do make this about money, but we are quite careful to make sure that we engage with councils when we decide on the financial support we can give so I hope it is not about money and I think what I have learned, particularly from community groups, is that the community will lean in and help. Money is part of it but it is not all of it.
“Ashford has done a fantastic job welcoming these families. The more that other councils realise the benefits of doing it and that the funds are there to support it the more likely they are to step up. But the fact is that Ashford has been on the front foot and deserves to be applauded.”
Asked whether more affluent areas should do more, such as Sevenoaks, which has offered to take just one family, she said: “I would urge all councils to consider what they should do. You will find some councils who have taken none, so I am not going to knock a council that has taken just one. Hopefully that’s the start of something bigger.”
Under the government’s initiative, £8,500 is allocated for each refugee in the first year, tapering down to £1,000 in the fifth year.
She said the experience of refugees accepted by Ashford showed the programme did not lead to problems of social cohesion.
“The council has been very careful to spread out families so they can integrate,” she said.
To date, 11 families have arrived in Ashford and are being provided with training to help them find and have English language lessons.
Mrs Rudd spent more than an hour chatting to some of the families who have been taken in under the scheme.
The training is being provided Concept Training which specialises in running programmes for the construction industry.
Mrs Rudd downplayed the During her visit, the Home Secretary heard how the conflict had led to former farmer Nader Al-Housseh and his wife fleeing their farm in Damascus with their four children to go to Lebanon.
There they spent two years waiting to see if they could leave and come to the UK under its resettlement scheme.
Nader said he had cried with happiness when he took a phone call telling him he had been successful.
“We had a good life in Damascus but had to go to Lebanon. I was tortured and we were worried about our children. We accepted the offer to travel straightaway but it took three months before it happened.”
He is learning English and is determined to get some kind of job. “I am a bit slow to learn but am getting there.”
Their four children are at local schools and have settled in well, he said. news that there were new migrant camps cropping up in Calais.
“We work very closely with the French to keep those camps clear. The clearance of the Calais camp was a great success but we know that more camps will come up and we need to be vigilant about it. So I am always concerned about it but we have the right plan to make sure people seek asylum in France when they are there.”
‘Ashford has done a fantastic job welcoming these families’
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