British authorities began moving asylum seekers back onto a converted gas-field accommodation barge moored on the south coast on Thursday two months after it was evacuated due to the presence of Legionella bacteria aboard. File photo by Neil Hall/EPA-EFE
British authorities began moving asylum seekers back onto a converted gas-field accommodation barge moored on the south coast on Thursday two months after it was evacuated due to the discovery of Legionella bacteria aboard.
A bus carrying about 30 of the 75 being moved from hotels to the 10,000-ton Bibby Stockholm in coming days was met at Portland Port in Dorset by a small welcome group of around 50 local people, who at the same time, protested about the men being billeted in the town. Advertisement
Some asylum seekers said they were very apprehensive about life on the 222-cabin barge which they likened to a prison, but expressed fears their claims for asylum claims would be affected unless they cooperated.
“I am worried and afraid. I do not want to go to the barge, but I don’t have the courage to disobey. I am literally helpless,” one man told The Guardian. Advertisement
The Home Office confirmed a “phased” operation to move the asylum seekers back was underway “after all necessary health, fire and safety checks were successfully completed.”
“The number of people on board will increase gradually in the coming days and months, as part of a carefully structured phased approach,” the Home Office said in a post on X.
Residents of the barge, which is equipped with en-suite bathrooms, Wi-Fi, a big screen TV room, a gym, a multi-faith prayer room, a meeting room, a classroom and outdoor recreational space, are not detained and will be permitted to come and go freely.
They will live on the barge until authorities complete the processing of their claims for asylum in Britain.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman launched the barges scheme in April as part of a strategy to slash the $7.5 million a day price tag of housing tens of thousands of asylum seekers in hotels and “reduce unsustainable pressure on the U.K.’s asylum system and cut the cost to the taxpayer caused by the significant increase in Channel crossings.”
The cost of hotel accommodation has since risen to $9.8 million a day.
The re-opening of the Bibby Stockholm comes a week after a High Court judge threw out a case brought by elected Portland town councilor Carralyn Parkes against Braverman challenging the legality of the scheme. Advertisement
Ruling in Braverman’s favor, Mr. Justice Holgate rejected Parkes’ application for a judicial review saying she did not have a case to argue.
Parkes is now seeking a judicial review of Dorset Council’s claim it cannot bar the Bibby Stockholm from Portland because it lacks planning jurisdiction over the port.
The barge scheme has been beset with problems from the start with at least three dozen men moved aboard Aug. 7 but evacuated four days later after Legionella bacteria, which can cause a serious type of pneumonia, was discovered in the water system.
Prior to that, it was hit with a series of setbacks in completing the refit and moving it into position in Portland, protests by the local community and delays moving asylum seekers aboard due to a string of health and safety concerns.
The first group of 50 men was due to be moved on board in the last week of July but that was pushed back to Aug. 1 as preparations were incomplete. At the last minute, that transfer was also postponed pending “final checks” amid reports of more serious fire safety issues.
