So much speculation presented as fact by the MSM it is no wonder that people are afraid of being 'swamped'. With only 20,000 refugees being accepted by the UK over the next 5 years that means only 4000 each year, who, when spread around the country will hardly be noticed. Our local Council, the smallest LA in Scotland have been allocated 20 refugees - 4 or 5 families and have already drawn up plans, had joint meetings with the local Charities who are willing to help and started the work that will be needed to accommodated the refugees.
Briefly the plan is this. They have a Council owned former care home for the elderly, currently lying empty but in good order because they have built new care homes with ensuite facilities for each bedroom. The building identified has 5/6 'units' each with 5/6 bedrooms a sitting room and bathrooms, showers and toilets. No longer fit for its old purpose it was destined to become homeless accommodation, once the Council had spare cash to convert it. Now it will be refurnished (furniture to come from the local, not for profit, furniture recycling centre) and rejigged to provide 5/6 self contained 'homes' for refugee families. By chance the building is immediately adjacent to the Social Work Department Offices allowing a point of contact for the refugees and the volunteers who want to help. There is going to be a bit of a bunfight as there is already a huge list of volunteer helpers, far too many for the number of families expected. The list includes, health professionals, teachers of English as a second language, benefits advisors, playleaders, members of the local Mosque and Christian Churches (a sizeable proportion of Syrians are Christian) - many really useful people. The charity shops will put together suitable clothing packs once they know age, sex, size. The Library service has ordered Syrian Books. The Knitting Group are piling up Scarves and Wooly hats.
What is all this going to cost? Well actually nothing from the local Council's Budget because Westminster has announced a funding package drawn from their Overseas Aid budget, which will cover all costs incurred by LAs for each refugee placed. So - no question of anyone going further back the waiting list. In fact 5/6 homes will be created and added to the housing stock at no cost to Council Tax payers.
If you don't know what the plans are in your local area then ASK your LA. Local facebook pages and letters to the local paper were extremely anti-refugee but this mood has altered now that the Council has publicised their plans and the small number of people involved.
