Home Office accuses council of asylum 'untruth'

Harlow Council claims a building in the town centre was being considered to house asylum seekers

The Home Office has accused a council of making an "untrue" claim the government was "taking over" a town centre site to house asylum seekers.

Harlow Council's Conservative leader Dan Swords claimed dozens of migrants would be housed in a converted office block of flats. In a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood he wrote: "We will do everything in our power to stop this. It is wrong for our community."

The BBC had been told by the government that its contractor was inquiring about using one flat in the building.

Swords said the plan had since been dropped, but he had seen an application that talked of 204 bed spaces.

'Untrue'

Swords rubbished the Home Office's "untrue" response.

In the form seen by the BBC, the application states it is for Flat 1, with two bedrooms. But it also lists a "bed spaces demand plan figure" of 204 and "current live bed spaces of 76".

Swords claimed these figures showed the government intended to use the building to house migrants.

"We do not recognise this 'proposal'," a Home Office spokesperson said.

"This is untrue — we will not be taking over this site."

Clearsprings, one of the government's providers of asylum accommodation, which made the application, told the BBC: "We can confirm that it is just three bed spaces, and we do not recognise the numbers you have given."

'Wrong place'

Chris Vince, Labour MP for Harlow, responded to the row, and said: "This was an initial consultation, which I and others have now fed into, and I understand that this is now not going ahead."

Vince said people already living in the building "have complained about inappropriate living conditions and have contacted Essex fire service to raise these concerns".

Labour's James Griggs, the opposition leader on Harlow Council, told the BBC: "It is the wrong building in the wrong place to house asylum seekers.

"It would undoubtedly attract protesters," he added, but he accused Swords of "misleading" residents on the numbers.

Swords said: "This was never just about one building - it was about standing up for our Harlow, about keeping our residents safe, about protecting the future of our town centre, about ensuring Harlow homes are for Harlow people."

Eight miles south of Harlow is The Bell Hotel in Epping where anti-asylum seeker protests started this summer with some turning violent and spreading to other parts of the UK.

Vince added: "It is important we do not use this as an opportunity to stoke tensions within our community".