Asylum seekers housed at Exeter hotel - city council

Exeter City Council said the people being housed were at the start of the asylum application process

A number of asylum seekers are being housed by the government at a hotel in Exeter, the city council has confirmed.

Exeter City Council said the Home Office told it on Sunday that an unspecified number would be housed in the city and they had arrived "in the last couple of days".

The council said it was not involved in or consulted on the decision.

But it added it was working with partner organisations to offer any support required.

'Challenging decision'

The authority said the Home Office was funding the short-term emergency accommodation and security arrangements "for asylum seekers who are at the start of the asylum application process".

Martin Pearce, lead councillor for communities and homeless prevention, said the asylum seekers had arrived as the "Home Office is trying to address the challenges at the Manston facility in Kent".

He added: "Exeter City Council and Devon County Council have a long track record of working together to support vulnerable people who are seeking asylum or are refugees, and will continue to do so to help those impacted, despite the challenges this decision presents."

Roger Croad, Devon County Council cabinet member for communities, said the councils did not know "how long those placed here will remain in Devon", but that they and NHS and voluntary sector partners were "well placed to provide care and support to individuals".

The Home Office said there was "no alternative" to using hotels to deal with the number of people it was looking after.

Elsewhere in Devon, two hotels in Torquay are housing asylum seekers and a third has been prepared.

The Home Office is also temporarily housing migrants in a hotel in Ilfracombe, as well as in Newquay, Cornwall.