Council leader to meet asylum hotel protestors

Dudley Council’s leader is set to meet with anti-asylum hotel campaigners after hearing their concerns during a demonstration.

A group of protestors gathered at Dudley Council House on September 8 ahead of a meeting of the full council.

During the demonstration council leader, Patrick Harley, had discussions with protestors who are calling for an end to illegal immigration and the housing of asylum seekers in hotels.

As the protest continued outside the council house, Cllr Harley told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I went out there to see how they were, they were protesting in a very peaceful manner.

“I listened to the issues and their concerns and explained the council’s stance and we only had one hotel commandeered by Serco who handle immigration and asylum cases for the Home Office.

“I have got a meeting with four of them on Thursday so we can go though their concerns and dispel some of the myths around asylum seekers in Dudley.

“I explained other hotels where they have had protests are full of homeless people who have literally been dumped on us from neighbouring authorities.”

“My job is also to listen to some of their concerns – they may have information I am not privy to.”

Serco Group Plc is a British-based multi-national company which provides a range of services to governments including the management and housing of asylum seekers.

The company has a multi-billion pound contract to house around 30,000 asylum seekers in the north west, midlands and east of England.

Around 500 asylum seekers are housed in Dudley borough, either in hotel accommodation or houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

Only HMOs housing five or more people are required to be registered with local authorities, in Dudley Serco is the licence holder for 32 registered properties.

Cllr Harley added: “That will be the next big issue to take hold across the country as they start to close down hotels and move them into HMOs.

“It worries me greatly because you can see there is a hotel and what they are up to in there. It worries me that HMOs are harder to keep control of when they are not registered.

“We have to find a way to tighten up planning guidelines and, if necessary, come out with new policies.

“If we can’t do it locally it might be up to the government of the day to allow us to change planning policies so we can clamp down on this.”

Serco said: “We have provided housing and support for asylum seekers in the community in the UK since 2012 ensuring safety and respect to some of the most vulnerable people in society whilst they await news on their immigration status.

“We manage an extensive property portfolio, reducing the cost to government by integrating hundreds of landlords into one property portfolio.

“We have invested heavily to improve the quality standards of the properties, ensuring that asylum seekers in our care are comfortable and have access to the services they need.”