Legal News

Council leaders across Worcestershire have agreed to make a formal bid to the Home Office to relocate Syrian refugees across the county.

Wyre Forest District Council has announced that negotiations will begin later in January with the Home Office and West Midlands Strategic Migration Partnership to host up to 50 Syrian refugees in Worcestershire by the end of 2016.

The announcement follows a decision by the leaders of Worcestershire County, Bromsgrove District, Malvern Hills District, Redditch Borough, Worcester City, Wychavon District and Wyre Forest District Councils at a meeting on Thursday (07/01/16).

The government has said the full cost of supporting Syrian refugees for the first 12 months will be provided to councils from the UK’s Foreign Aid budget.

The arriving refugees will be housed within the private rented sector to minimise the impact on social housing supply and other vulnerable groups –
some districts have already been approached by private landlords offering to house refugees.

In a statement, Worcestershire council leaders said:

“We’ve always been clear we were prepared to play our part in housing some of the most vulnerable people affected by the Syrian conflict – but we needed assurances over funding.

“We’re delighted we now have those assurances and are able to proceed with a formal bid.

“A huge amount of work still needs to be done and complex detail gone through before we can accept our first families – we need to ensure the right infrastructure and support networks are in place to fully support Syrian refugees arriving here and help them settle into the community.

“As a result, there’s no date yet for when we will receive our first families –
but our aim will be to ensure they arrive sooner rather than later.”

Wyre District Council added that a decision on how many more Syrian refugees will be housed in Worcestershire over the next four years until 2020 will be made, once the initial families have arrived and begun to settle in.

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