North Ayrshire to welcome more Afghan families
The response from North Ayrshire residents to a plan to welcome Afghan refugees to the area has been described as ‘heartening’ by North Ayrshire Council leader Joe Cullinane.
He made the remarks on Tuesday, as Labour colleague Louise McPhater branded the bid the most ‘upsetting’ to come before the authority.
They spoke as North Ayrshire Council’s cabinet was updated on the plan to house Afghan nationals fleeing Taliban rule.
The authority rubber-stamped plans to house two Afghans families in homes in Irvine in June. But they have nodded through moves to accommodate a further three families fleeing the takeover by the fundamentalist regime, in the wake of the UK and US withdrawal from the country. It is thought the first families will arrive next month.
The UK government’s Afghan Locally Employed Staff Relocation Scheme will see those who worked with British troops – mainly interpreters and their families – re-homed in the UK following the rise of the Taliban to power and last week’s fall of capital Kabul.
In papers prepared for the meeting, councillors were told: ‘Over recent days the severity of the situation in Afghanistan has escalated very quickly and the Home Office and Ministry of Defence are now working to get those entitled to a safe home in the UK out of the country as soon as possible.’
The authority’s senior manager for housing operations, Robert McGilvery, told the cabinet that a move to resettle refugees displaced by Syria’s civil war under the UK Resettlement Scheme, will have to be put on the back-burner, such is the urgency of the Afghan operation.
More Afghan refugees may be accepted, but the challenge lies in finding suitable housing for larger families in North Ayrshire, although Councillor Cullinane noted that it would be easier to accommodate any smaller families on the UK government’s list.
Councillor Cullinane told the meeting: ‘I think everybody will have seen some of the scenes on TV and think it is a horrid situation.’
He said there was a ‘moral obligation’ to help the fleeing staff who worked with the UK government and added: ‘I think it’s really important we play our part.’
Irvine West Councillor Louise McPhater added: ‘These families are fleeing in terror for their lives.’
Councillors also told the meeting they had received offers from the community to help the displaced families, including from residents who had offered their homes to child refugees.
The cabinet backed the move for the number of Afghan families to be housed in North Ayrshire to be increased from two to five and agreed to delegate authority for the total number of families to be relocated to senior officers in consultation with councillors and Home Office officials to accommodate the fluid situation.
It was also agreed the need to settle displaced Afghan citizens would take future priority over the rehoming of Syrian refugees.