Concerns raised over Warrington hotel housing asylum seekers

A council leader said he was "extremely concerned" by the government's decision to ignore objections to a hotel being used to house asylum seekers.

Councillor Russ Bowden said Warrington had been subjected to a "drop-and-dump dictat" as asylum seekers started to arrive over the weekend.

He said: "No thought had been given as to how it would fund vulnerable families with little notice."

The Home Office said it was working "to end the unacceptable use of hotels".

The leader of the Labour-run authority said the council was "very unhappy" about the decision to use the hotel, which the BBC is not naming for safeguarding reasons.

Mr Bowden said Warrington Borough Council had been advised that a legal challenge was "unlikely to succeed, not least due the incredibly short" notice it was given of the plans.

He said the council had tried multiple times to raise the issue with the Home Office but they had been "met with silence, with legitimate concerns raised simply not being adequately addressed".

Mr Bowden added the council also had "real concerns" about the vulnerable families and children although its "immediate priority is our duty of care to the asylum seekers and ensuring their welfare needs are met".

"Our statutory services that support people... are already overstretched, not least due to our Ukrainian relocation plan and the influx of an estimated 2,800 new residents from Hong Kong," he said.

"The arrival of additional asylum seekers, with no notice or opportunity for negotiation with the Home Office, will only further increase the strain on these services which are already at breaking point."

The Home Office said: "The number of people arriving in the UK who seek asylum and require accommodation has reached record levels, placing unprecedented pressures on the asylum system."

It said it was working with all local authorities "to provide more suitable accommodation for asylum seekers and to end the unacceptable use of hotels" adding more than £21m in funding had already been provided to authorities to help them "respond to challenges".

The hotel declined to comment when approached by the BBC.

Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected]