Breckland DC's leader has called for a council veto on local asylum placements as tensions grow in the Norfolk district over the issue.
With the Home Office having recently placed a number of asylum seekers in the town of Watton Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen said there was ‘a clear difference between showing compassion to people in genuine need and expecting rural towns and communities to shoulder a disproportionate burden because of a failed national policy'.
‘The Government's Asylum Dispersal Policy is placing people into rural communities without the infrastructure, services, safeguarding capacity, or local support needed to make it work safely and successfully.'
In addition to a veto Cllr Chapman-Allen, a former chair of the District Councils' Network, demanded government ensure placements matched local capacity and cap numbers at levels local services can ‘genuinely support'.
‘This debate is not about turning our backs on people in need. It is about demanding a system that is fair, credible, and fit for purpose.'
With Reform becoming the largest political party at Norfolk CC following the recent local elections Cllr Chapman-Allen urged the county council's new administration to challenge the Government ‘to deliver a system that actually works'.
Reform has a policy of no more ‘free housing', ‘benefits' or ‘taxpayer-funded incentives for illegal migration'.
