Public meeting to discuss concerns over asylum seekers at Fir Grove Hotel

LOCAL Cllrs have organised a public meeting for residents concerned about the Fir Grove Hotel becoming a home for asylum seekers for the next year.

Borough Cllrs Helen Speed and Mark Brown visited the Fir Grove Hotel twice over the weekend, making contact with Serco, who will be responsible for the care of families staying at the hotel and are keen to ensure the asylum seekers are treated well while in Warrington.

There was a storm of protest after news broke that the Home Office had leased the Grappenhall-based hotel to house families of asylum seekers for the next year, without any consultation with Warrington Borough Council.

Despite this lack of consultation and after taking legal advice, the Local Authority has now put together a multi-disciplinary team to ensure that the families are given the support that they will need during their stay in Warrington.
Cllr. Speed and Brown say they are now working closely with the Local Authority team and visited the hotel twice over the weekend. They made contact with Serco, who will be responsible for the care of the families staying there and sought assurance about the care of future residents. They are working with Serco staff who also want to ensure a strong two-way dialogue is developed with local residents.

Cllr Speed said, “Although the circumstances in the setting up of the Hotel for asylum seekers were not ideal, it is a humanitarian situation that requires us all to pull together to ensure they are well treated while they are here. We recognise that some people want to make donations and suggest taking them to CARE UK Charity’s Home Store at Cockhedge in the old TK Maxx store.
“We have set up a meeting for residents at 7.30 pm on November 18th at Grappenhall Methodist Church and will be advertising this meeting through social media and leaflets to nearby houses.“

Cllr Browne added, “We will do our utmost to ensure that people locally are kept informed of what is happening at the Hotel. We understand that unfortunately some of the staff have lost their jobs due to the changed circumstances, but we are pleased to hear that some have found new posts in the hospitality sector.
“We now understand that the Immigration Minister recognises that consultation with Local Authorities has been inadequate and that steps have been taken to correct this in the future.”

Meanwhile, Warrington South MP Andy Carter, who raised the issue in parliament yesterday said “I’ve today written to residents living in close proximity to the Fir Grove Hotel to update them on my discussions with Home Office officials following my question to the Immigration Minister in Parliament yesterday.”

Immigration Minister agrees to meet MP to discuss concerns over asylum seekers at Fir Grove Hotel