Home Office scraps plans to house migrants at Stradey Park Hotel after community fury
10 October 2023, 13:58
The Home Office has confirmed it is scrapping plans to house hundreds of asylum seekers in a former hotel in Carmarthenshire.
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Around 200 people had been due to be placed in the Stradey Park hotel, sparking months of protests.
Local residents raised fears the building might not be suitable for the facility and the fire service put a prohibition order on the building saying it is unsuitable as accommodation in its current form.
Carmarthenshire council confirmed on Tuesday that the Home Office has withdrawn its plans.
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Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Cllr. Darren Price said: “I very much welcome the decision of the Home Office to withdraw its plans for the Stradey Park Hotel; it’s the right decision for the hotel and more importantly, it’s the right decision for the people of Furnace.
“Now is the time for the community of Llanelli to come together, to heal from the experience of the past few months.
“On the issue of providing sanctuary to people in desperate need, I will reiterate Carmarthenshire County Council’s desire to continue to welcome our share of asylum seekers from countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria to our county via the dispersal model which has worked successfully in Carmarthenshire for many years.”
Dame Nia Griffith MP said she was "pleased" and welcomed the decision.
"This debacle has seen the hollowing out of a key landmark hotel in the area with the loss of almost 100 jobs.
"It has created divisions within local communities and taken up valuable resources from our public services at a time when they were already stretched.
"We now need to move forward and bring our town together once more.”
