Dorset migrant barge plans should be scrapped, council leader says

The 222-bedroom, three-storey vessel will house around 500 migrants when it is in position in Portland Port

A council leader has urged the home secretary to scrap plans to house migrants in a barge off the Dorset coast.

Weymouth Town Council leader David Harris said the Home Office's decision to site the Bibby Stockholm in Portland Port had been "thrust" on the town.

He said there had been a "lack of consultation" ahead of its arrival.

The Home Office said it was working "extremely closely" with councils to manage any impact on Portland.

In a letter to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Mr Harris said savings from using the barge should have been "immediately allocated" to local services.

"This would have enabled Portland Hospital to be reopened and staffed adequately so that the local surgeries would not have to have further patients registered with them when they are already overcrowded."

The Bibby Stockholm has previously been used to house homeless people and asylum seekers in Germany and the Netherlands

He said "increasing the rate of processing the [asylum] claims" would have prevented the need for the barges.

"Many of the people on the barge will have skills that could be utilised to resolve the labour shortages we have as a country," he added.

He also warned that "far-right extremists are already moving into the area".

"I am very nervous that the lack of real involvement of the local residents in the process, along with insufficient resources, will not help relationships," he added.

Earlier this month Dorset Council announced it would not challenge the Home Office's decision over the three-storey barge, which has 222 rooms and can house more than 500 people.

The council said it believed legal action would be unlikely to succeed and incur high costs for Dorset taxpayers.

'Unworkable plan'

Ms Braverman told the Commons, on 5 June, "we will see an accommodation barge arrive in Portland within the next fortnight" but the vessel's arrival has been pushed back while it undergoes maintenance and refurbishment work in Falmouth.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "Braverman's plan for a barge on the Dorset coast is an unworkable plan that is wasting time and money, much like all of this government's asylum policy."

Mr Carmichael said the Home Secretary should "focus instead on tackling the backlog of asylum cases created by her government's sheer incompetence".

A Home Office spokesman said: "The pressure on the asylum system has continued to grow and requires us to look at a range of accommodation options which offer better value for the British taxpayer than expensive hotels.

"We are continuing to work extremely closely with Dorset and Portland councils, as well as the local NHS and police services, to manage any impact in Portland and address the local communities' concerns, including through substantial financial support."