Plans to convert empty units into migrant housing within a deprived town have been axed after thousands of locals protested against the proposals.
The Home Office planned to relocate 35 asylum seekers to a new development in Waterlooville, Hampshire, in a bid to lower the numbers in hotels and ‘disperse’ migrants across UK towns and cities.
But nearby residents argued the new arrivals could bring ‘chaos’ to their already ‘dead’ community hub following unrest at other migrant sites in recent weeks.
Havant Borough Council has now said the Home Office confirmed the proposals will not go ahead.
Suella Braverman, MP for Fareham and Waterlooville, previously dubbed the plans ‘wholly inappropriate’ and argued they would send the area’s regeneration scheme ‘backwards’.
The Home Office previously said the blocks would be ‘best suited for the use of couples, or single parents with young children. There is one single flat which would most likely be utilised for a single adult female’.
On July 30, around two thousand people packed into Waterlooville precinct to protest against the plans.
The area used to be a ‘thriving’ high street but lost many big name stores including Waitrose, Wilko, Game and Peacocks in recent years – with much of the footfall being ‘taken’ by a nearby retail park.
Now, the ‘barren’ high street still houses a Wetherspoons but little else, and some residents have feared the lack of life in the town centre would lead to migrant men loitering aimlessly.
The development was a newly converted block of 19 flats called Waterloo House.
It is owned by Mountley Group whose Director, Hersch Schneck, also owns a migrant hotel in nearby Cosham.
At the top of the market, the flats could fetch £250,000 each but falling house prices mean taking them off the market and entering into a deal with Clearsprings, a company which procures accommodation for asylum seekers on behalf of the Home Office, could have been a far more profitable move for Mountley Group.
That’s because the government could offer top of the market fees in order to get migrants into housing.
As well as private rentals, the Home Office has been seeking medium-sized sites such as former student accommodation and old tower blocks to house migrants.
The flats are located above a bric a brac store called The Junk Emporium which was once a Peacocks clothing store and before that, a Tesco.
Havant Borough Council said in a statement: ‘The Home Office considered the consultation response from HBC alongside other evidence and has decided not to purchase the property as the accommodation has been deemed unsuitable for asylum dispersal accommodation.’
