Fenland District Council has lodged its ‘robust objections’ to government plans to use a site in the district as accommodation for asylum seekers.

The council has repeatedly made the case Fenland sites are particularly unsuitable.

The district is currently one of the few places in the country that has no government accommodation or hotels for asylum seekers.

The Home Office has suggested several sites in the past year which the council has successfully objected to and which were subsequently not pursued.

placeholder image — Fenland District Councils offices.

The proposal is for 26-bed accommodation for women and babies in Leverington.

Cllr Chris Boden, leader of Fenland District Council, said: “This site is not suitable to house and support asylum seekers. We have already and will continue to robustly make this case to Government for the benefit of our existing community.

”I may be accused by some of being cynical, but based on how the Home Office has acted in the past, I have no confidence that, given the chance, Government would not end up placing adult men who’ve entered this country illegally into this accommodation. I suspect the Government’s ‘mothers and babies’ line is there to try to soften us up.”

Cllr Sam Hoy, Fenland District Council portfolio holder for housing, said: “We’ve been successful in making the case to the Home Office for several years that Fenland is the wrong location for asylum seekers.

“Home Office had previously agreed to not placing any asylum seekers in PE13 and PE14 and we are appalled with what now appears to be a change to this agreement.

“This is entirely the wrong site and we will be making our case to Government.”

The site has been identified as part of Government’s nationwide plan to move asylum seekers out of hotel and short-term accommodation elsewhere in the country, into longer-term “dispersal accommodation.”

A Home Office letter to the District Council’s chief executive said: “The site could provide 26 bedspaces for mothers and babies and has been approved for further consideration as dispersal accommodation.

“We recognise concerns about community cohesion, antisocial behaviour, the site’s previous condition and management, regulatory involvement, and its proximity to schools and a nursery and will address these further.”

It added: “We welcome continued engagement with Fenland District Council and operational partners to review local risks, provider assurances and any further mitigations required.

“We will work through the Strategic Migration Partnership to arrange further multi-agency engagement, involving relevant police, fire, health and safeguarding partners as appropriate.

“The Home Office will keep the Council and relevant stakeholders informed and provide opportunities to contribute before the site is brought into use.”

No timescale relating to the site has been outlined by government.