Protests as council meets over asylum hotel plan

There have been long-running protests over the plan

Protesters gathered outside the offices of a local authority as councillors discussed paused plans to house exclusively male asylum seekers at a hotel.

The scheme, which was put on hold on 1 August, was planned for the Stanwell Hotel in Stanwell, Surrey, and would have seen asylum seeking families currently being housed there relocated.

Spelthorne Borough Council leader Joanne Sexton told the meeting she was seeking legal advice about the Home Office proposals.

Councillors voted on Thursday to ask the Home Office to "immediately reconsider its plans to utilise the Stanwell Hotel to house adult male only asylum seekers".

A group of protestors gathered outside the council offices before the meeting

One of the protesters, Zoey, told BBC Radio Surrey: "We've accepted the families, the children have run in the schools with our children, come to birthday parties with our children.

"Now there's the threat of moving the families out we're concerned for our children. Every park is full of all these men just sitting around."

Another protester, Lorraine, said: "We've got to think of our kids, our grandchildren, our children and their future."

Spelthorne's Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp wrote to the Home Office in July to object to the decision.

The protest was linked to opposition to small boat crossings

Councillors told the meeting how families already housed at the hotel had successfully integrated with the community.

A motion to shut the facility to all asylum seekers and return it to use as a hotel was defeated.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The government is reducing expensive hotel use as part of a complete overhaul of the asylum system.

"From over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost £9m a day, there are now less than 210, and we want them all closed by the end of this Parliament.

"We will continue to work closely with community partners across the country, and discuss any concerns they have, as we look to fix this broken system together. The security of the local communities within which hotels are located will always be our paramount concern."

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