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Wolverhampton Council says no to more asylum seekers
Monday 11th October 2010, 4:00PM BST.
Wolverhampton Civic Offices
Asylum seekers will no longer be given council houses in Wolverhampton, to free up homes for city families it was announced this afternoon.
Bosses at Wolverhampton City Council said they would rather use 124 homes currently occupied by asylum seekers to cut their housing waiting list.
The council will not renew a contract with the UK Border Agency to provide homes when it expires next June.
Asylum seekers currently being housed under the agreement will have to find new homes elsewhere.
The move will help tackle Wolverhampton’s council housing waiting list, which stands at 13,405.
It is nearly double the figure of July 2009 when the number of people wanting a council house stood at 7,609.
Councillor Les Pugh said: “We aim to pull out of the contract on June 30 after five years. This has been a difficult decision to make, but one that is in the interests of local people on our housing waiting list.
“We will continue to provide up to 124 homes for asylum seekers until June 2011 and in the meantime, will work with the agency to help find alternative services to take over following the end of our contract.”
Most asylum seekers in the city are housed in the Heath Town area. Those with medical conditions which require them to be treated in the city are expected to be allowed to stay on.
Wolverhampton Homes, which manages council properties, receives on average 800 applications per month for council housing.
Gail Adams, UK Border Agency regional director, said: “We’re disappointed by the council’s decision.”
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Well done Wolverhampton Council. Bout time you did something right
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Local people should have always had first choice on any council. Perhaps times are really changing, and people in this country are starting to come first. Time will tell.
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It’s about time, as much as I feel sorry for these people we need to start looking after our own, My mom was made homeless 8 years ago and had to sleep on her brother’s sofa for 5 months and myself and my brother had to find somewhere else to live as we could not afford to rent privately until the council finally decided to get off there backsides and find us somewhere to live.
I am not a racist person but England seems to bare the brunt of other country’s problems and it’s about time we decided to finally put our town’s people first for a change. Lets hope this is just the start and other council’s around the midlands and the rest of the country start to house british people who need it more instead of asylum seekers who some of them come here break the law, scrounge off tax payers and do not contribute towards society
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gail adams disappointed by the decision, well i can asure you i am pleased as will be many others i hope, lets look after our own for a change.
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ITS TAKEN LONG ENOUGH FOR WOLVERHAMPTON COUNCIL TO REALIZE THIS.
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When Labour were in charge of Wolverhampton Council, they signed a contract with the Labour government to take asylum seekers directly into Wolverhampton and to house them in our council homes.
When the Conservatives took control of the council, they promised not to renew this contract as they believed that our council houses should be for our people. The consevatives have kept this promise and have on many occasions, publically stated their intention to end the contract.
The problem is that if Labour do regain contral of the council, they will simply renew the contract and keep bringing the asylum seekers into Wolverhampton!
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enough is enough.
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At last our locals who need homes now can get them, at the moment they are at the back of the list!! we paid our taxes we expect housing in our own town!!
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At last someone see’s sense. What we now need to do is also get them out of the city completely the crime figures must have also gone thru the roof since all the eastern blockers came over here. Good riddence. By the way I got a van that will take them all back.
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The ‘eastern blockers’ you refer to are economic migrants. They come here because they choose to, to try and better their lives.
Asylum seekers are people who come here because they are fleeing war, violence and persecution in their home country.
The article is about the council not providing council housing asylum seekers, nothing to do with your ill-informed rant
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ste p what country in the eu did these so called asylum seekers first arrive at on their long migration
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It is unfortunate for the families concerned, but I totally agree with the council’s stance.
Maybe, just maybe, if the same approach is adopted by other councils around the country, then the Government will have to sit up and take notice.
It is high-time the families born and bred in this country are given precedence over those from overseas.
Those who claim asylum should be treated differently and sensitively, but more importantly, seperately from the indigenous population.
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its about time to we have all ways help others in need but this lot are not in real need so y should we house and feed them at the end we can not look after our own now ask the old folk that
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About time but it is too little too late and it will only force the illegals further underground so we can`t find them let alone deport them.
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im so glad that wolves and brum council are thinking about the local people for once,, i just hope all the councils follow suit because if they dont that town will be flooded,,immigration should be stopped now as were such a small country that is over populated
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and without sounding “racist” but the more people that are here the less off we will be and the less choice we have
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About time we started looking after our own first, afterall they say charity begins at home. Once thats sorted then we should help others!
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Well done Les Pugh, without appearing un-Politically Correct, im glad that the local people will benefit from the freed up housing!
Quote some politician “local jobs and housing for local people”
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At last, I hope Dudley council follow suit. charity begins at home, lets look after our own first and then and only then give to other countries.
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First off well done Les drinks are on me when your free!
England on a whole needs to follow fashion!!!
BUT!!!!! Fair play to any other these people who are being moved who ARE paying TAX (IF ANY) and are paying for education.
If our government continues to let people in, then as a community we need to mold them in to people who want to work and want to learn rather than take advantage of our (sad to say) free society!
For all you none wolverhamptoners Gail Adams is the person you need to speak to!!!
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“Gail Adams, UK Border Agency regional director, said: “We’re disappointed by the council’s decision.” ”
.. why?
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about time
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Nobody has asked ….. in just over a year, where have the other 5000 plus applicants for Wolverhampton council housing come from? almost doubled the total waiting list in just over a year?
124 asylum seekers out, 5000 plus in? are these all Wolverhampton people, or are they people from elsewhere who have decided to live in Wolverhampton, if so why? It’s not as if there has suddenly been a massive increase in jobs.
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Maybe this has got something to do with Gordon Brown’s recession.
The bankers in America may have contributed to it but Mr Brown and the Labour party are the ones that brought the country to it’s knees.
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At 2006 estimates, Wolverhampton had an incredibly high population density of 8,824.1/sq mi.
Source: Office for Neighbourhood Statistics.
I’m disappointed England doesn’t have a regional voice in Whitehall. We need our own Parliament. I’m disappointed this country is seen as a dumping ground by globalists, only too eager to bring people here so they can drive down wages and working conditions. I’m disappointed this country still spends incredibly large sums on defense projects, when our OWN people are living in abject poverty.
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Firstly – never start a sentence with “i’m not being racist but…” (or something of the like!)…..can imply that you have underlying thoughts and is a bit contradictory
Secondly….whilst i agree with most of the posters in that something really needs to be done about the asylum situation (which has certainly gone a bit mad)….As an ex-housing officer, i dont understand when people used to (and still do judging by some of the posts) complain about being on the waiting list for years or being homeless, but when people are offered housing in an area you consider undesireable, they refuse it claiming “I aint living there – i might be homeless and on the streets, but i aint living there” – remember many asylum seekers have been housed in places (i.e. Heath Town) which were left empty for months sometimes years…………..
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so gail adams is disappointed with the decision,well tough.well done wolverhampton council for making this decision,its about time.its not often the council gets things right but this is one time they have.
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Hooray!!!!!At long last someone is doing something sensible regarding housing people properly, in decent homes.
The asylum seekers should come way down the list.
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Right, bring our troops home from Afghanistan, put them to work finding all people without proper documentation and deporting them. surely we have a few spare ship that could do with a little work.
the money this government would make would be more than enough to pay for this project. Say no to overcrowding ENGLAND. JtH.
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At last and well done..
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Could have done with these kind of decisions years ago talk about shutting the barn door after the horse has bolted! it seems that the people in control of our country on local and national level only have the capacity to make the right decisions after they have tried all the wrong ones!
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The problem was that “years ago” the country and the city was run by Labour. Now they aren’t!
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Yes im jamaican and my parents came here in the 60s after being invited here to come and help clean up the country, and yes i do agree with wolverhampton council, people who havent worked for the country should not be allowed to just come in and get access to housing, and everything else that comes with it.This is not a racist decision but a common sense decision.If they want housing there are private landlords which they certainly go and access themselves.
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Do you all want to live in a flat in Heath Town then?
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Yes, when I was homeless I would have been delighted with a flat in Heath Town. So what is your point?
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Well done David, no longer homeless and access to a computer!
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Don’t forget it was Maggie & the tory government who introduced the right to buy in the 80′s earning billions for the Treasury but refusing to build council houses from the profit. No matter where I go be it Wolves Brum or Essex or anywhere else in the UK “we” should come first, disgusted at the way Birmingham City Council wont allow me to take over me late mom’s tenancy an 18yr old music blaring Asylum seekers etc etc good on Wolves and Brum councils for doing the “right thing” for a bleedin change.
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Apologies for the language, but here goes…
…about bloody time!
thank you.
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Asylum seekers should be housed in a large barracks and kept their prior to being sent home. Most come through other Countries, they should never have been allowed entrance to the shores of Britain.
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About time too. This is why we voted Labour out of government. Now it’s time get to grips with righting all the wrongs done by the Labour party. One step at a time Wolverhampton Easy does it.
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Dear the thewolf (post 3)
“and myself and my brother had to find somewhere else to live as we could not afford to rent privately until the council finally decided to get off there backsides and find us somewhere to live”.
Did you consider gettting off your own backside- why should the council have to find you a house. Are you incapable of doing this for yourself.
Typical sort of person who things society owes them a favour… how much tax have you paid in the last 12 months?
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