REFUGEES from Afghanistan are set to be housed in Thurrock.
Details remain scarce but Thurrock Council has confirmed it has contacted the government offering to take refugees.
The offer comes at a time when the waiting list for local people to be housed by the council tops 7,000 but it is not clear if taking refugees will have any impact on the list – or the system of residents ‘bidding’ for available properties.
A council spokesperson said: “Thurrock Council has written to Her Majesty’s Government offering to take part in the Afghan Interpreter Resettlement programme and we will continue to work with Government to support the resettlement scheme that has been announced following the situation in Afghanistan.
“Thurrock Council has not agreed to take any specific number of Afghan refugees nor have we currently been asked to do so. The council will respond once the request has been received”
The government says the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme will aim to allow 5,000 Afghans to settle in the UK, with the long-term goal a total of 20,000.
It will focus on women and children as well as religious and other minorities in greater danger from the Taliban.
The scheme will be modelled on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which aimed to take in “those in the greatest need, including people requiring urgent medical treatment, survivors of violence and torture, and women and children”.
They were identified by the UN and then vetted by the Home Office before being granted the right to settle in the UK.
The government met its target of bringing over 20,000 people – half of whom were children – over five years between 2015 and 2020, and the Home Office said it was the “largest resettlement scheme in Europe”.
The UK has sent about 900 troops to Afghanistan to help evacuate British nationals and Afghans who are eligible to resettle in the UK.
Funny how you can House all these refugees but xant House our vulnerable children and our vetrans. Despicable and disgusting,
are they having a laugh!! we have people that have been waiting years to get a place!! and now your going to give 20,000 potential terrorists a place over the people that deserve it!!! you should be ashamed of yourselfs!!
What an absolute disgrace Thurrock Council and government are.
We do not need any more immigrants, the effects of such are depressing.
Did the council ask its community if they are happy with this actions or thinking only of the benefit government will offer this to take place. What a shame…
You’ve got to be joking. Thurrock would be destroyed even more. This country and council is a joke. Heads will be rolling…
Will they be the same mould filled house’s that Thurrock tenants have to put up with,, or new builds,, they could house people from high rise flats, and put Afghan,s in the flats or send most of them to Scotland they need the extra population our infrastructure is struggling to cope now there must be another way the council can make money