Stradey Park: Llanelli asylum seeker hotel plan scrapped

The hotel was due to house 241 asylum seekers

Controversial plans to house asylum seekers at a hotel have been dropped.

Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli was due to house up to 241 people, a move that was opposed by Carmarthenshire council.

The Home Office has not explained its decision, but said it was "working hard to reduce the unacceptable use of hotels by moving asylum seekers into alternative, cheaper accommodation".

The hotel said it plans to rehire staff "to resume serving... to the community as soon as possible".

First Minister Mark Drakeford strongly criticised the Home Office over its handling of the issue.

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He told BBC Wales UK government officials were "simply walking away" from "a failed experiment" and they now needed "to learn the lessons of their own failure".

Mr Drakeford said a "great deal of damage had been done" and now a lot of work had to be done to "heal the rifts" in the town.

He added: "Where will the Home Office be when all that work is being done? Nowhere to be seen?"

Council leader Darren Price said it was the "right decision" for the community and it was time for everyone to "heal from the experience".

Since the decision was announced, crowds gathered outside the hotel where a makeshift base for protesters was set up.

Mr Price said that when it came to providing sanctuary for people in desperate need, the council was happy to use its dispersal model which "had been used successfully for several years in the county".

Welsh Refugee Council head Andrea Cleaver said: "Temporary accommodation sites are not an appropriate or safe housing solution for sanctuary-seekers."

"These are people who are fleeing war and persecution and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. 

"Housing them in temporary accommodation slows integration and, as we have seen, can stoke tensions within communities.

"The Stradey Park Hotel issue is an example of what not to do and we have been hugely disappointed by the mishandling of the situation by the Home Office.

"There's a valuable lesson here that engagement needs to happen at the start of the process, not the end."

Robert Lloyd, a spokesman for campaign group Furnace Action Committee, gave "a cautious welcome" to the news.

Robert Lloyd of Furnace Action Committee gave the news a "cautious welcome"

He said the group still wanted to see details and added: "It could have been done a heck of a lot better".

Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith said: "I am pleased that they have finally listened to the people of Llanelli who knew that it was the wrong decision all along".

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She said the plans had meant the loss of nearly 100 jobs and created divisions in the area.

She said called it "the right decision for the hotel and, more importantly, it's the right decision for the people of Furnace".

At the scene: BBC Wales reporter Lucy Vladev

About 200 people gathered outside the hotel today as the Home Office announced it would no longer be using the site to house asylum seekers

Local residents and action groups came to the site this morning, playing music and chanting in celebration.

While here I saw food being delivered to the protesters who have set up flags and a table outside with gazebos.

Some members of the community were not happy at the media's presence today, something local action group leader Robert Lloyd said was a "shame" as it doesn't reflect the overwhelming feeling from the vast majority of locals that "this is a happy moment".

The decision is being welcomed as a step in the right direction but there is still some nervousness as local residents believe "the devil will be in the detail" when it comes to the plans for the site now.

The focus for local residents is now on "repairing".

Llanelli MS Lee Waters said he was glad the Home Office had "finally seen sense and have realised their plans for Stradey were unworkable and wrong-headed".

"But what a mess they have created, and now leave behind," he added.

"A cherished hotel has been wrecked by Tory incompetence and it is not clear what the owners now intend to do. They need to put right the damage they have caused."

Llanelli MS Lee Waters said there was a "big project to heal local divisions"

He raised concerns about the long-term future of the hotel, saying the site was at risk of being "left to rot" and called for the Home Office to ensure the hotel would be repaired and restored.

He added: "There's also a big project to heal local divisions."

Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn welcomed the decision but said the Home Office needed "to be held accountable for their lack of strategic planning around housing asylum seekers".

He added: "Who made the decision in the first instance, where was the business case and the surrounding due diligence in ensuing that the decision was feasible and realistic?"

Clearsprings Ready Homes, which has a 10-year contract to manage asylum seeker accommodation in England and Wales, declined to comment.

Protesters set up a camp near the hotel's entrance after the plans were announced

The Home Office confirmed its decision to withdraw the plans, adding: "The number of people arriving in small boats is down compared with last year but we must go further to stop the boats in the first place.

"We are also working hard to reduce the unacceptable use of hotels by moving asylum seekers into alternative, cheaper accommodation, doubling them up in hotel rooms, and clearing the legacy backlog."

Last week, the fire service said the hotel was deemed unsafe following an inspection due to a "change of use".

It said: "This is mainly due to insufficient fire separation between certain areas of the ground floor as well as insufficient means of detecting and giving warning of a fire."

The Stradey Park Hotel in Furnace was shut after an order by the fire service

The hotel owners, investment firm Sterling Woodrow and Gryphon Leisure were then notified of a prohibition that "prevents the premises from being used for sleeping accommodation".

Since the plans were first announced, there have been frequent protests held outside the hotel and an opposition group was set up.

In July the council applied for an injunction to stop the plans, but this failed.

Dyfed-Powys Police said there were 17 arrests made up to 24 August.

During the weekend of 30 September-1 October, six arrests were made after protesters broke through the security fences, and a further 12 were arrested between 4-9 October.