‘Council is delaying rehoming of refugees’

VOLUNTEERS hoping to resettle a refugee family from war-torn Syria have criticised a Welsh authority which they claim has delayed the process.

Croeso Penarth is leading efforts to bring a family currently living in a United Nations refugee camp to Penarth so they can rebuild their lives, which were torn apart by war. But the volunteers claim Vale of Glamorgan Council is delaying this process and that it means a family is spending longer in the refugee camp than they need to.

Vale of Glamorgan Council has denied this. Croeso Penarth wants to bring a family – which has yet to be selected – through a community resettlement scheme run by the Home Office and the UN. But before this can happen the council has to approve Croeso Penarth’s application.

Croeso Penarth says it submitted its application, which was supported by Citizens UK in January, and that since then the council has taken a number of months to assess the application. Amy Da Silva, from Croeso Penarth, said: “It’s putting a lot of financial pressure on us as a group. It’s really upsetting to think it’s being delayed so long and a family is enduring more time in that camp than they need to.”

She said resettlement schemes in other areas have taken between two and six weeks to get local authority approval. Croeso Penarth hopes the refugee family can be resettled in Penarth by the end of the year, and has pledged to support their integration into the community by helping them access language lessons, join local clubs and find work.

Four families were resettled in the Vale in 2016/17– including nine adults and 10 children. In 2017/18 the authority pledged to receive four families, but just two – made up of four adults and six children – were resettled.

A meeting of the council on Wednesday heard arrangements are being made with the Home Office for the remaining two families to be received by June this year and that the council has secured two affordable homes for them.

Stephen Doughty, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, asked Prime Minister Theresa May during a Commons debate on Monday, April 16, whether or not councils should do more to resettle Syrian refugees. Mrs May replied: “Certainly.” Later in the debate, Mr Doughty said: “I have mentioned the situation of councils. I am disappointed that when efforts are being made by a group called Croeso Penarth in my own constituency to house Syrian refugees they’re finding that frustrated by the local council.”

Vale of Glamorgan council leader John Thomas said his authority is not deliberately obstructing the process.

He the full council meeting: “I am extremely disappointed with the language used by Stephen Doughty MP – which implies that the authority has deliberately sought to obstruct a community sponsorship application.

“I remind members that the authority is duty bound to ensure that each application is sufficient and sustainable, and that the needs of the vulnerable refugees can be fully met before it can consent to an application progressing further.”

Mr Thomas said a draft application sent to the Home Office by Citizens UK “mistakenly stated that consent had already been given.”

He said council officers met Croeso Penarth and that the council’s cabinet should make a decision on the application “very soon”.