‘Community worries must be addressed’

The government’s failure to address local concerns about the
resettlement of asylum seekers is contributing to ill feeling and
hostility, a new report suggests.

Understanding the Stranger, by the Information Centre about Asylum
and Refugees (Icar), looked at public attitudes in Bicester in
Oxfordshire, which has been earmarked as the location for a 750-bed
accommodation centre, and Leeds, where many asylum seekers have
already been resettled under the dispersal policy.

It finds that both communities are worried about asylum seekers
“overwhelming” the area and putting pressure on local
services.

It argues that the government and those implementing policy need to
“treat local communities with respect” – and make some of the new
facilities and support available to them as well as asylum
seekers.

Report from www.icar.org.uk