Controversial plans to house more than 200 asylum seekers at a large hotel in Llanelli are continuing to move forward despite large-scale opposition from locals - with contractors set to start work at the site as early as next week.
It was first reported in May that the 4-star Stradey Park Hotel - in the Furnace area of Llanelli - was being considered by the UK Home Office as a location to house hundreds of asylum seekers. Despite criticism from local residents and fierce opposition from Carmarthenshire Council, it was confirmed earlier this month that 207 asylum seekers would be housed in 77 rooms at the hotel. You can keep up to date with the latest Carmarthenshire news by signing up to the local newsletter here.
Despite a lack of engagement from the Home Office or the owners of the hotel - Sterling Woodrow - efforts continue to be made to stop the plans from going ahead, with an action group set up in the wake of the controversy insisting that they are “doing everything” possible to get the decision reversed. Meetings and protests have been held locally, and a petition calling for the proposal to be scrapped has already been signed by more than 4,500 people.
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If the plan does go ahead, it’s expected that Stradey Park Hotel will be used to home asylum seekers from July 3, while it’s understood that contractors could start making alterations to the site as early as June 23 - next Friday. The Furnace Action Committee is now calling on the whole town of Llanelli to make their voices heard by the UK Government.
“The people of Llanelli need to be united against this outrageous and cavalier plan,” said Robert Lloyd, spokesman for the committee. "The Conservative Government has literally stuck two fingers up to the people of Llanelli and Furnace in rejecting our MP’s call for a meeting with government ministers to explain the concerns of the people of the town. They are imposing this barmy plan on us. It is a shocking way to treat people in a modern democracy. The Home Office is refusing to listen to what we have to say. It’s appalling - it’s more like a dictatorship than a Government.”
As well as requesting a meeting with ministers over the plans, Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith has raised the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions in Parliament and made attempts to speak to the owners of Stradey Park Hotel. She said: “The complete and utter disregard from Tory UK Ministers in going ahead with this proposal without any proper communication or consultation with the surrounding communities is, even for them, truly shocking.
"It would see the loss of a valued hospitality venue, which is vital to the area’s tourism economy. Many people are very upset at having to rethink plans for weddings and other functions over the coming few months. There is also huge concern for the hotel’s existing staff and the uncertainty about jobs.”
Llanelli town councillor Shaun Greaney, who represents the neighbouring Lliedi ward, is one of those concerned about the potential impact the proposal will have on current members of staff who work at the popular hotel. “The Government’s refusal to meet our MP to hear residents’ concerns is an out and out snub to the people of this town. To jeopardise the hotel workers’ jobs in this way is callous in the extreme.
"I urge everybody to sign the petition against this nasty and ill-thought through plan which is wrong for the residents, staff and asylum-seekers. If you don’t want the Government to succeed with this idiotic plan then please sign the petition. The Town Council unanimously voted to sign the petition and back it. As a Labour group we are campaigning to stop this appalling plan in its tracks and are keeping residents informed.”
Another local councillor, Nick Pearce, accused the government of treating residents with “utter punitive contempt” and compared the situation with that seen in north Wales earlier this year, when a former education centre in Llandudno Junction had been due to house asylum seekers before a u-turn from the Home Office. This came after concerns were expressed by Robin Millar, the MP for Aberconwy. “Our MP, MS and county council have been frozen out and the plan railroaded ahead,” said Councillor Pearce. “We need to let them know, by all means, we are not having it.”
Concerns have also been raised locally that the amount of asylum seekers housed at the hotel could actually increase to more than 300 if the hotel is used to home others in need of emergency accommodation. Furnace Action Committee spokesman Mr Lloyd added: “We currently have more than 4,700 petition signatures in total - online and on paper - and that number is growing all the time. Why won’t the Government listen? It stinks that they don’t want to hear what we have to say.
"It’s a David versus Goliath battle and they are forcing this on Furnace and Llanelli. But we are going to do everything we can to try to stop this. Time, unfortunately, is against us as we understand contractor Clearsprings Ready Homes could be moving into the Stradey Park Hotel as early as June 23. The battle is not lost - but we need to mobilise the people of Llanelli to protest as quickly and as loudly as possible. Some elements in the community have distorted the debate for their own political ends. This is not the time for such nonsense.”
Dame Nia Griffith confirmed that she had a meeting with the Home Office on Tuesday, who said in response to a number of queries from Wales Online: “We have been clear that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable - there are currently more than 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £6 million a day. All asylum seekers in hotels are provided with full board accommodation with three meals a day served as well as all other essentials, including cash payments where eligible. Asylum seekers are not detained at hotels and are free to leave their accommodation.”
The Home Office would not be drawn on specific dates or the numbers of asylum seekers that will be housed in Llanelli, but refused to deny there could be more than 300. Wales Online has also contacted the UK Government and the owners of Stradey Park Hotel, but have thus far received no response.
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