Harlow Council’s leader says he will fight the Government with “everything it has” to stop a former office building in the town centre being used to house asylum seekers.
The council says the Government has confirmed it plans to move asylum seekers to Endeavour House, formerly known as Redstone House, starting in November.
Council leader Cllr Dan Swords, has written to the Home Secretary to formally and fiercely oppose the plan.
In his letter to The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP, Cllr Swords says the council will “do everything in our power to stop this”, describing the proposal as “wrong for Harlow, wrong for our town centre, and wrong for our community.”
Cllr Swords said: “Redstone House was shut down because it was unsafe. The tenants who were placed there by London boroughs were rightly moved back to those boroughs. Now the Government wants to bring that same unsafe building back into use – right in the heart of our town centre – to house asylum seekers. That is reckless, irresponsible, and a betrayal of our community.”
Cllr Swords warned that such a move would be a “disaster for Harlow, undermining years of hard work, investment, and planning to rebuild and regenerate the town centre”.
Council leader, councillor Dan Swords(Image: Harlow Council)
Cllr Swords has demanded an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary to discuss the proposal and its implications for Harlow, warning that the council will “oppose the plan politically, legally, and publicly”.
He added: “We have fought to secure hundreds of millions of pounds to transform Harlow – to build new homes, new shops, and new public spaces.
“Turning Redstone House into asylum accommodation would undo all of that progress and show a staggering disregard for the people of Harlow.”
The apparent Home Office decision comes amidst concerns following protests outside Bell Hotel in nearby Epping, after asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu sexually assaulted a woman and a 14-year-old girl in the town.
The 38-year-old Ethiopian national, who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incidents in July, was sentenced to 12 months in jail at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last month.
Cllr Swords continued: “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 such a short-sighted, unsafe, and irresponsible decision.
“The Home Office’s approach is not only wrong – it is dangerous. It risks provoking serious and destabilising unrest. Harlow is a compassionate town, but compassion must be matched with competence and common sense, not exploited.”
“I’m asking the people of Harlow to back me to fight the Government on this. We will not stand by while our town is treated as a dumping ground for failed policy.”
The Home Office was approached for comment.
