Plans for male-only asylum hotel resume - council

Residents have mixed feelings about the plan

Plans to move single men to an asylum hotel in Surrey are to be rolled out from next week, the local council has announced.

It comes after the Home Office paused the proposals for the Stanwell Hotel last month following protests.

Spelthorne Borough Council (SBC) said officials will move families seeking asylum, including vulnerable women and children, from the site and replace them exclusively with males.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We have committed to close all asylum hotels.

"To achieve this, we will look at a range of more appropriate sites like disused accommodation, industrial and ex-military sites so that we can reduce the impact on communities."

SBC said it is challenging the decision, claiming it has not been listened to and its questions remain unanswered.

The number of asylum hotels has fallen to 210, according to the government

Some residents are unhappy about the plans as they say male asylum seekers could pose a risk to the community, particularly women and girls.

The Brighton-based NGO Conversation Over Borders told the BBC it was a "harmful and unevidenced myth" that men seeking asylum were a danger.

"Young men seeking safety deserve the same welcome and protection as anyone else," they said.

SBC leader Joanne Sexton previously said families currently at the hotel had integrated well and built community ties.

The local authority said it had received a verbal update from the Home Office that the families will be moved to Slough.

A Home Office spokesperson previously said that from more than 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost £9m a day, there are now less than 210.