Wiltshire Council begins assessments into capacity for receiving refugees

The council announced last week it is joining with public sector partners and the community as it prepares the way to welcome refugees into Wiltshire.

The Refugee Programme Board met last week with health and police partners joining Wiltshire Council to help assess capacity for such measures.

Members of the board have given careful consideration to health, housing and education as preparations take shape. They will now liaise closely with central government advising how many refugees could settle in the county.

Wiltshire Council leader Jane Scott said: “Together with our partners we are making plans so that the right support is in place to ensure refugees can make Wiltshire their home.

“We want them to be part of our communities permanently, having the support they need to become self-sufficient, finding jobs and settling in Wiltshire.

“We’ll now be working closely with central government as we advise how many refugees we can welcome to the county and look forward to preparing the way to help them settle into our communities.

“There is a huge amount of support being offered by communities locally, and currently the best organisations to contact at this time are the international aid organisations such as the Red Cross, Unicef and Oxfam.

“We will also be working with the voluntary and community sector in the county to provide support.”

North Wiltshire’s MP, James Gray, has come out in support for humanitarian help in the current refugee crisis, however has warned against the potential problems a large intake of people could have on the region.

“Simply throwing open our doors, as some have suggested we should do out of compassion, would solve really very little,” he said.

“We are right to do our bit, Britain has long traditional of that, but what do you do with them?
“They have got to have homes, jobs and schools for their children.

“I’m sensitive to those people who say, our schools, such as Malmesbury Primary School, is full at the moment.

“Schools and doctors surgery are full and we don’t have any spare housing. I have people coming to see me desperate for houses.

“My responsibility is to the people of north Wiltshire who are currently here.

“Playing the numbers game with refugees is just wrong. We have to consider who deserves to come and what to do with them when they get here.

“It should be a humanitarian issue, not a political one.”

Speaking on BBC Points West on Monday night, Mr Gray said: “I have a lot of correspondence from my constituents about it and people are terribly concerned about the awful conditions we see on the ground in Calais.

“So it’s right that people are putting their hands in their pockets they’re putting up money, putting up grocery, putting up blankets. They’re going there and they’re helping these poor people out. That’s only a human reaction and I salute that effort, but that of course itself not enough.

“Let’s take people from refugee camps in Lebanon and elsewhere and choose who we bring, probably the most disadvantaged, or the children for example, and lets bring them here.

“But simply saying if you find your way to Calais we’ll let you in, is the wrong thing to do because that in itself is encouraging the terrible people smugglers who are bringing these people across from Lebanon. That’s not the right way to do it, let’s bring them ourselves by aeroplane.

“The Calais lot should probably be sent back to where they came from.”

Jon Hubbard, a member of Wiltshire Council, is pleased that something is being done to help with the growing crisis.

“In all fairness the council is now responding in appropriate fashion,” he said.

“There are partial limitations form national government and on facilities and materials available to support people.

“I’m broadly supportive of what they’re doing though.

“There has been a phenomenal response from the general public. The levels of giving to collection points show how people feel about this issue.

“People are really recognising that we’re facing a once in a generation humanitarian crisis.
“Refugees are walking thousands of miles to flee the bloodshed they’ve been dealing with. They don’t expect to pitch up and have a four bed detached home.

“Look at the facilities in the county. We’ve had youth hostels closed down and disused nursing homes. They can rapidly be turned into shelters that could be used.”

A petition started by Jonathan Fisher from Calne, calling Wiltshire Council to offer homes to refugees, has gathered over 160 signatures.

He has been joined by Nick Pascoe, who set up CalAidMalmesbury with Pete O'Brien, Gavin Jones and Julian Lewis, in calling the council to step up their efforts.

Nick Pascoe said: “It sounds like a humane course of action recognising the reality of the issue at hand.

“People become economic migrants and refugees as a consequence of the lack of stability, security and opportunity in their home country.

“Wealthier Government's have a responsibility to act to ensure stability, security and opportunity elsewhere in the world, when they do not do that well, refugees an economic migration are one of the consequences. The refugees are not to blame for political failure.

“Refugees and economic migration therefore are consequences of political failure and as such it is absolutely beholden on wealthier governments to act humanely and deliver professionally organised and properly funded ways to welcome, comfort and quickly determine the outcome of people's asylum claims.

“If Wiltshire are acting positively to be a part of that for refugees, then that is great news but really we should be expecting this from our governing bodies.

“It seems the UK Govt has got the right idea in working to ensure stability, security and opportunity elsewhere in the world. But they have fallen woefully short in acknowledging that the refugee and economic migration issue is entirely generated by their previous failures.

“Wiltshire Council is stepping in proactively to do their bit to help and thousand of ordinary families have made similar offers.

“It is shameful that the current Government will not do likewise.

“That does not necessarily mean accepting everyone who knocks on the door, refugees have a stronger need of shelter than purely economic migrants, but it does mean treating people considerately, processing asylum applications quickly and accepting very many more genuine refugees into the UK than is presently the case.”

Esther Hamill from Malmesbury recently returned from a trip to Calais to help refugees struggling in the ‘The Jungle’. She welcomed the news from Wiltshire Council.

“The announcement is one of the best bits of news I have heard in a while,” she said.

“Having met the refugees last week and been at the receiving end of their endless welcomes and their kindness, despite the horrendous situation they are finding themselves in, not only has it made me desperate to make life easier for them but I also realised what an asset many would be to our communities.

“The refugees are in desperate need of our protection so I only hope that any possible plans move forward as quickly as possible and before people succumb to the effects of malnutrition, disease from living in unsanitary conditions and the cold European winter.”