Home Office is letting down migrants – and local communities

FOUR Westcountry hotels, more used to providing accommodation for families enjoying a break on the English Riviera, the North Devon coast or in Cornwall’s surfing capital, have been pressed into service to help ease the migrant crisis.

There is widespread sympathy for asylum seekers who have fled to Britain because of persecution in their own country. But imposing those awaiting processing on resorts, especially those that already have more than enough social issues of their own to deal with, is simply not fair.

There may still be a perception at the Home Office that Paignton, Torquay, Ilfracombe and Newquay are all swanky holiday destinations with local authorities which can easily soak up a bit of extra pressure in the autumn, now the holidaymakers have gone home.

Yet that is patently not the case. Torbay, North Devon and Cornwall are all among the most deprived parts of the country. Their natural beauty and reputation for welcoming thousands of visitors every year masks real underlying difficulties affecting the local population.

And the pressure is felt, particularly in Torbay – which is now hosting asylum seekers in two hotels – by the local authorities who have statutory duties to carry out and are already struggling to meet those responsibilities given the pressure on funds.

As the council’s chief executive Ann-Marie Bond tells the Western Morning News today, one of the most significant impacts of having a group of migrants descend on the area is the pressure it puts on services for young people.

Around 20 of the 100 migrants who arrived in the first group in Torbay say they are aged 18 or under – that immediately puts a significant duty of care on the local authority, which must treat their cases with particular sensitivity and at some cost.

Also, any resources spent on the migrants is, potentially at least, not available for the fixed population.

There are dangers inherent in using inappropriate accommodation in the wrong places to give homes, albeit temporarily, to migrants.

The vast majority of people across the South West are welcoming and sympathetic to those with a genuine need to escape persecution. But it is not hard to see how resentment might build in these cases.

That is something the Home Office has a responsibility to prevent. Simple measures, like consulting with local councils, telling the local MP of what is going on and making it clear that any migrant groups moving in will be processed and dealt with as quickly as possible, can help to ease concerns. Yet, as we have seen in every case in the South West so far, officials in government have failed to deliver those basic courtesies.

Torbay Council is right to consider seeking an injunction to prevent further hotels being pressed into use as holding stations for migrants. It may not be the last local authority to take such action. This is a crisis already growing out of control. Its latest manifestation, which brings the issue a great deal closer to home, underlines more strongly than ever why a solution is vital.