THE search is on to find six family-sized homes in Powys after a committee backed a UK Government scheme to re-home asylum seekers in the county.

Powys Council's cabinet will decide next month whether to support the UK Government's home office in its call to accommodate asylum seekers arriving int he UK.

The council is considering supporting this request by working with Clearsprings Ready Homes, to find private sector accommodation while applications for asylum are processed.

The Home Office is asking for voluntary participation, but if insufficient offers are forthcoming, local authorities may be legally obliged to find or provide accommodation

Next month the cabinet will decide whether or not to help the Home Office, and its contracted agent, Clearsprings Ready Homes find these six properties in Powys.

On Monday, October 18, at a meeting of the economy, residents and communities scrutiny committee councillors discussed the proposal.

Committee chairman Cllr Mathew Dorrance said: “I welcome this proposal. I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do.”

Steve Lakey of Clearsprings Ready Homes said work had already started to find available homes that fit the bill.

County Times: Cllr DorranceCllr Dorrance

“We’re confident we can find them, we’re not talking about large scale, but it’s not going to be easy, and it’s not going to happen overnight,” he said.

Adult social care and Welsh language portfolio holder Cllr Myfanwy Alexander said the council would be helping provide the “data” to ensure the right decisions on location are taken.

Cllr Kath Roberts-Jones suggested keeping asylum seekers “within a reasonable distance ” so they can support each other.

Mr Lakey said: “The placement of the properties is absolutely essential.

“That’s why, we will be working in partnership with everybody with our voluntary sector partners with the Welsh strategic migration partnership and  with local authorities, who will have that very local knowledge.

“It’s absolutely key to ensure that we don’t put people into isolation.”

Cllr Alexander added: “I think what’s most important about this is to centre on the the needs of the individual person.”

Cllr Alexander pointed out that this had been successfully done in Powys with people from Afghanistan and Syria in the past.

The committee supported the principle that Powys should accommodate asylum seekers and will feed their comments into the report to be discussed by cabinet on Tuesday, November 2.

Wales has provided accommodation for asylum seekers in four ‘Dispersal Areas’: Newport, Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham.

The increase in demand now means that all Welsh local authorities are being asked to find accommodation.