Harlow Council’s Leader, Cllr Dan Swords, has today declared to fight the Government with “everything the council has” to stop them using Redstone House in the town centre for Asylum Seekers.
The Government has written to the council to say that they intend to move asylum seekers into Redstone House, now called Endeavour House, from November.
The Leader of Council has come out fighting issuing a statement and video today declaring to “protect the town” and “work night and day to fight this”.
Cllr Dan Swords said:
“Today we’ve received a letter from representatives of the Home Office informing us that the Government intends to use Redstone House - right in the middle of the town centre - to accommodate asylum seekers.
“Let me be absolutely clear: we will do everything in our power to stop this.
“We will fight it with everything we have - because it is wrong for Harlow, wrong for our town centre, and wrong for our community.
“Redstone House was recently shut down because it was unsafe. The tenants who were placed in there by London boroughs were rightly moved back to those London Boroughs.
“And now, the Government wants to bring that same building back into use to house asylum seekers - in the heart of our town centre, an area we are working tirelessly to rebuild, to regenerate, and to make a place we can all be proud of.
“That would be a disaster for Harlow. It would undermine years of hard work, investment, and planning to bring our town centre back to life.
“We have fought to secure hundreds of millions of pounds to transform Harlow - to build new homes, new shops, new public spaces, and create a town centre that people want to live, work, and spend time in.
“Redstone House being a dumping ground for asylum seekers would undo all of that.
“We believe in Harlow homes for Harlow people. We believe in standing up for our town.
“We have come too far and worked too hard to see the future of our town centre put at risk by a short-sighted and unsafe decision. We will not just roll over for the Government.
“We will stand up for Harlow and work night and day to fight this every step of the way.”