Council objects to barge plan for asylum seekers on Merseyside

Birkenhead among sites being considered to house migrants

A council has formally objected to plans to put an asylum ferry or barge on the Mersey to house hundreds of asylum seekers.

Even before the Government has confirmed the plans, Wirral council has written to the Home Office to register its opposition and its “significant concerns” over the proposals to berth a vessel on the Mersey river at Birkenhead.

It joins at least four other councils which have also objected to similar asylum schemes for a barge at Portland Port in Dorset, the former Dambusters’ base at RAF Scampton, RAF Wethersfield in Essex and a former prison in Bexhill, east Sussex.

The move is part of an effort by the Home Office to reduce the £7 million a day cost of housing some 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels across England and Wales by transferring them to bigger sites.

However, Dave Hughes, director of regeneration and place of Wirral Council, said: “Wirral is a welcoming place, with a compassionate community that has a track record of supporting anyone forced to flee their homelands due to conflict.

“However, we have written to the Home Office setting out our objection to these plans as they stand due to a wide range of significant concerns and challenges the council, partner agencies and the local community would face should an operation of this nature and sheer scale be progressed in Wirral. We have not received a formal response to those concerns as yet.”

A final agreement on berthing an asylum vessel on the Mersey has yet to be reached with Peel Ports which is responsible for Liverpool and Mersey docks but negotiations are thought to be close to completion. The talks were first revealed by The Telegraph last month.

Peel Ports operates six UK ports including the harbour and docks along the Mersey in Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton. The company provided a berth for a cruise ship accommodating Ukrainian refugees in Glasgow last year in a deal with the Scottish Government.

A spokesman for Peel Ports said: “We have been clear from the outset that any agreement to accommodate a vessel for refugees in Birkenhead will require the willing participation and full collaboration of local authorities.

“We have seen this model work over the course of last year, as we provided a berth for a vessel accommodating refugees in Glasgow. This was delivered with the full support of the local agencies working in partnership with the vessel’s management and port operations.”

It came as the Home Office confirmed more than 6,000 migrants have crossed the Channel by small boat so far this year. That is more than the numbers that could be accommodated in the sites identified by ministers.

Home Office figures showed a total of 6,192 people have made the perilous journey in 148 boats to date - an average of 42 people per vessel. April alone saw 2,153 asylum seekers intercepted by UK officials, making it the busiest month so far. Almost 400 migrants crossed the 21-mile Dover Straits over the bank holiday weekend, with 147 people reaching the Kent coast on Sunday (April 30) and 246 on May Day (Mon).

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has publicly defended his opposition to his own Government’s plans to turn RAF Wethersfield in his constituency into a camp for 1,700 asylum seekers.

The MP for Braintree said that “no-one” would want such a facility in their constituency but he maintained the Government’s illegal migration bill to tackle the small boats crisis would mean there would be less need for such large-scale asylum camps in the future.

Ministers have identified locations with sufficient capacity to house 10,000 migrants including Wirral docks on the Mersey which could house up to 1,800 asylum seekers in a ferry or barge.

Former military sites at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and RAF Wethersfield in Essex, a barge for up to 500 migrants at Portland port in Dorset and a former prison in Bexhill have already been announced as sites for nearly 6,000 migrants.

Home Office sources denied suggestions that there was a target of 10 former ferries, cruise ships or barges to house asylum seekers but acknowledged it was in talks to contract vessels for migrants to reduce the £7 million a day cost of housing 51,000 migrants in hotels.

A final agreement has yet to be reached with Peel Ports which is responsible for Liverpool and Mersey docks but negotiations are thought to be close to completion. The talks were first revealed by The Telegraph last month.

Peel Ports operates six UK ports including the harbour and docks along the Mersey in Liverpool, Wirral and Sefton. The company provided a berth for a cruise ship accommodating Ukrainian refugees in Glasgow last year in a deal with the Scottish Government.

A spokesman for Peel Ports said: “We have provided a berth for a vessel accommodating refugees in Glasgow for the last year with the willing participation of the local authority and their collaboration with the vessel’s management team and the port operations.

“What we have learned is that this model can only work with the full engagement and support of the local authority and other relevant stakeholders.”

Local politicians, however, have condemned the proposal, pointing to a lack of infrastructure and describing the plans as a “floating prison”.

The Home Office has so far only announced a barge, Bibby Stockholm, will be berthed in Portland port from early June.

The first group of migrants, expected to be single men nearing the end of their asylum-processing claims, are expected to board later that month, with more people arriving over the summer.

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