Bibby Stockholm: Portland not right location for asylum barge - councillor

Portland Port is the wrong place to site a barge housing up to 500 asylum seekers, but authorities will do their duty to provide services to those aboard, a local councillor has said.

Dorset councillor Laura Beddow said: "We had serious concerns... [but] we are in a position where we have statutory services we must provide."

The Bibby Stockholm is expected to arrive within the next two weeks.

The Home Office claims the vessel will ease the pressure on the asylum system.

It is the first vessel secured under government plans to reduce the cost of asylum accommodation.

Critics have said the Home Office plan was "unworkable" and there has also been strong local opposition amid fears about the impact on local services, and concerns about the conditions on board the barge.

"Do I think it is the right location? Probably not," the councillor told a news conference called ahead of the expected arrival of the vessel.

"I would have preferred it not to be in Portland.. we have always had concerns about the impact on services.

"However, we have fought really really hard to get the funding agreements in place that we think we need to mitigate that. So going forward I think we are in a good place."

The chief executive of Dorset Council, Matt Prosser, told the conference the Bibby Stockholm would arrive in the port from Cornwall within "a couple of weeks" and the first of its male-only asylum seekers would be on board "shortly after that".

He said the council was receiving some £1.7m over the planned 18-month duration of the vessel's stay in the port - based on £3,500 per bed space made available.

A further £377,000 is being made available to fund support and activities for residents of the barge.

"Agencies in Dorset are working with the Home Office and with the port now through a multi-agency forum preparing for the arrival of the barge and the asylum seekers," he said.

"[They] are working in the best interests of both the residents and the asylum seekers to make sure arrangements operate smoothly, with minimal impact onto local services and communities."

Last month, Dorset Council dropped plans for a legal challenge over the barge plans.

Councillor Beddow said the authority had "been advised that it [was] unlikely to be heard or be successful".

"We did object. We had serious concerns, we laid out our concerns right from the start," she said "However we are in a position where we have statutory services we must provide..."

She added: "Actually it wasn't our decision, so we will carry out our duties in a way that we always hope that we would: in a calm and competent and positive way."

Mr Prosser said the Home Office funding would be used to fund a number of measures, including two additional community safety officers in Portland and Weymouth, and extended CCTV hours.

Dorset Police Ch Supt Richard Bell said there would be additional police patrols, and "daily visits to the port just to make sure the facility is being well-managed".

He added: "We recognise there will be minimal impact - if that facility is well-managed and well-run - on the local community and on crime and incidents."

Councillor Beddow said the migrants, who were not recently arrived to the UK, were not being detained at the facility and there would be a number of activities and services to help their well-being including a free hourly bus service, English lessons and sporting facilities.

Earlier NHS Dorset chief medical officer Paul Johnson said the barge's presence would not affect local NHS services, with the Home Office providing additional funding for them too.

He said NHS staff who had experience of looking after asylum seekers housed in hotels were being brought to Portland from Bournemouth "for their general practice needs either on the barge or remotely".

"So we feel that we have got the team needed that can give the people on the barge the care they need without impacting negatively on the care that people already resident on the island access and need."

The government has said those on board would be "non-detained", with no curfew, although they would have to comply with the port's security standards.

"We are involving the local voluntary sector to organise activities that keep those being accommodated engaged, plus, there will be exercise and communal recreational facilities to support their well-being, alongside transport to and from the port," it said.

The 222-room, three-storey barge is due in Portland Harbour in the coming weeks and will mark the first time migrants have been housed in a berthed vessel in the UK.

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