Plans taking shape for housing refugees in Shropshire

Shropshire Council chiefs said they had received "numerous offers of help from individuals and communities who've already organised themselves to provide aid".

The council has not yet confirmed how many refugees it will take.

But plans are being drawn up by the authority's cross-party refugee working group, with support from the Government's regional strategic migration partnership (RMSP), to put in place arrangements to house and support those seeking help.

The move was prompted by a motion to the full meeting on Shropshire Council calling for action.

It also comes as figures were released showing that Shropshire has failed to take in any asylum seekers in the last three years – while other councils in the Midlands had taken hundreds of people in.

Councillor Malcolm Price, Shropshire Council's cabinet member for housing, said: "Shropshire's cross party group is still working through plans and responding to the latest information from the RSMP.

Council chiefs say they have been left "heartened" by the response from individuals and companies in Shropshire who have offered aid to refugees coming to the county.

The offers will be considered by Shropshire Council's cross-party refugee group as it looks to make arrangements to house and support people fleeing Syria.

Councillor Andy Boddington, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow North and a member of the working group, said: "I have been heartened and encouraged by the hugely positive response to the refugee crisis from around the county.

"The working group will enable us to work closely with organisations and people offering support. Our working group has made a good start. But we recognise that there will be a lot of challenges ahead if we are to play our part in helping people who are fleeing Syria in fear of their lives."

It comes after a teenage migrant was killed trying to cross the Channel Tunnel into Britain. The boy, aged between 15 and 17 and believed to be from Eritrea or Sudan in East Africa, was killed by a freight train as he tried to cross the tracks.

He was declared dead at the scene on Wednesday night. He is believed to be the 12th person killed in or around the Channel Tunnel entrance in Calais since the refugee crisis erupted earlier this year.

A spokesman for the Pas de Calais Prefecture, the local administration, said: "

An investigation is under way."

"We have been asked how many refugees Shropshire is taking, but this has not been agreed as yet. We need to qualify what we have available.

"We've been absolutely inundated with generous and compassionate offers of help and donations from members of the public and we are very grateful and thank everyone for your kind support."

Liberal Democrat councillors had tabled the motion and Ludlow North councillor Andy Boddington said things had "rapidly moved on" since the beginning of the month. At yesterday's meeting of the council, he said he had attended a recent meeting where there were "no politics about the issue". He said: "The councillors and communities I have spoken to are committed to helping."

New figures show that no asylum seekers have been taken in within the Shropshire Council area over the last three years. Telford & Wrekin Council has also taken in only three. The figures show that the burden of housing asylum seekers had been taken by urban councils within the Midlands, with 1,400 taken in by Birmingham and 1,800 between the councils of Sandwell, Wolverhampton, Walsall and Dudley.

Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said: "The council is keeping all options open. As we have said, we want to be as certain as possible that early good intentions are likely to have good outcomes.

"We are considering how we can bring refugees to Shropshire – house and support them and, more than this, how the skills refugees will bring can boost our economy. We are also considering if we could be a point of distribution of refugees for other parts of the UK, but it is too early to say if this is feasible. However, it is important that nothing is ruled out at this stage.

"Shropshire Council wants to support refugees, and we support the position of the Local Government Association that the Government must fund the aid and support we provide."

At yesterday's meeting Councillor Barrow said that the best course of action would be for the cross party refugee action group to "get on with the job".

Telford & Wrekin Council revealed this month it could take in 50 Syrian refugees over the next five years.

Council spokesman Russell Griffin said: "Quite obviously if we look at what's happened in the world there are now more refugees and we've arrived on that figure after David Cameron announced 20,000 refugees would be admitted into the country.

"We could take in 50 refugees . . . that's an estimate."