Home Office withdraws decision to use Stradey Park Hotel as asylum seeker accommodation

The Council said that it’s Leader, Darren Price and Chief Executive Wendy Walters had both written to Home Office Ministers and senior civil servants last week outlining their concerns with regards to escalating community tensions and urging the UK Government to withdraw from the site.

It has since received written confirmation that the Home Office would be withdrawing the controversial proposals to house asylum seekers at the hotel site.

The Local Authority said it will continue to work with Dyfed Powys Police and the hotel owners to ensure that the site of the Stradey Park Hotel is managed appropriately, for the good of the community of Furnace and Llanelli.

Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Cllr. Darren Price said: “I very much welcome the decision of the Home Office to withdraw its plans for the Stradey Park Hotel; it’s the right decision for the hotel and more importantly, it’s the right decision for the people of Furnace.

“Now is the time for the community of Llanelli to come together, to heal from the experience of the past few months.

“On the issue of providing sanctuary to people in desperate need, I will reiterate Carmarthenshire County Council’s desire to continue to welcome our share of asylum seekers from countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria to our county via the dispersal model which has worked successfully in Carmarthenshire for many years.”

Reacting to the announcement, Llanelli MP, Dame Nia Griffiths said: “The announcement by the Home Office to withdraw its plans for the Stradey Park Hotel is welcome and I am pleased that they have finally listened to the people of Llanelli who knew that it was the wrong decision all along.

“This debacle has seen the hollowing out of a key landmark hotel in the area with the loss of almost 100 jobs. It has created divisions within local communities and taken up valuable resources from our public services at a time when they were already stretched.

“We now need to move forward and bring our town together once more.”

Earlier this week a community group launched a bid to ‘buy back’ the Stradey Park Hotel and relaunch it as tourism accommodation.