Furious villagers fear their village is becoming ‘overrun’ with asylum seekers | UK | News

Residents are up in arms over plans to move more migrants into a plush hotel in a village area already home to a venue putting up 270 asylum seekers.

Villagers in Standish, near Wigan, Gtr Manchester, are afraid the tranquil streets of their community will be awash with an influx of mostly “young men”.

But Home Office number crunchers struggling with a huge asylum backlog have put forward plans to acquire the Kilhey Court, described a “Wigan’s plushest hotel” to house even more people wanting to make the UK their home.

Less than three miles from Kilhey Court, a Britannia Hotel already hosts around 270 migrants where there have been reports of men making “comments to schoolgirls” causing the “the police to be involved”.

On other occasions young men were said to be “grabbing their genitals” when women walked past in the area.

Speaking to the Mail Online about the plans for the Victorian Kilhey Court building, father-of-two Eric Lowe, 82, said he had to cancel his wedding anniversary celebrations at the hotel.

He said: “It’s the wrong place to house migrants. There’s nothing for them to do here and there’s very few amenities.

“They’ll be bored. I don’t think it’s good for anyone to have it here. It’s a lovely hotel, really luxurious with a swimming pool and spa.”

According to Wigan Today the owner of Kilhey Court, Macdonald Hotels confirmed the temporary arrangement to hand over running of the building to SERCO, a government contractor that runs most of the asylum seeking housing operations.

Local Labour MP Lisa Nandy has written to Home Secretary Suella Braverman objecting to the plans for the hotel, and she has been joined by local councillors.

Resident Christine Keen, 76, lives near the Britannia Hotel and said she had been “followed” by one migrant and another said “he wanted to come and live with me”.

She said: “One did grab his genitals once when I walked past so I told the police and he was taken away.

“I know a cleaner who works there and one tried to kiss her but he got removed soon after that.”

Another resident, who did not wish to be named, told the Mail Online: “There’s just too many of them for the size of the place.

“They have made comments to schoolgirls and the police have been involved. It’s diabolical they are putting more migrants here. A lot of women don’t feel safe at night and won’t go out.”

A Home Office spokesperson said it had a statutory obligation to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

They said: “The significant increase in illegal, unnecessary and dangerous Channel crossings has put our asylum system under incredible strain and made it necessary to continue to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers.”