Peterborough’s MP has renewed his call for the city’s Dragonfly Hotel to be stood down as a refuge for asylum seekers.
Andrew Pakes said that in the last week he had met Home Office officials and had underlined how inappropriate the 70-bedroom hotel in Thorpe Meadowswas for use as a refuge.
Up to 146 male asylum seekers were moved into the hotel near the Rowing Lake by the Home Office on November 14.
Mr Pakes said: “I’m pleased to have met again with the Home Office to make the case for the hotel to be stood down as soon as possible.
It remains disappointing that Peterborough was chosen again but there is a strong partnership between the police, council and partners to get a solution in place.
"The Home Office has admitted this is only a temporary location and I’ll keep the pressure up until we get a change of approach.”
He added: “It seems the Home Office views the use of the Dragonfly Hotel as a temporary response rather than a fixed solution as it was with the Great Northern Hotel.”
While the Home Office has previously said the use of the Dragonfly Hotel is a temporary measure, officials have not explained how long ‘temporary’ will be.
Mr Pakes and North West Cambridgeshire MP Sam Carling, who are jointly pressing the Home Office to end the use of the city's Dragonfly Hotel as a refuge for asylum seekers, have recently sent letters to residents in the area to reassure them and to provide a point contact if householders have any worries.
The announcement the Home Office was to use the Dragonfly Hotel came a year after officials had stood down the historic Great Northern Hotel as a refuge after about 80 asylum seekers had been moved in on November 11, 2022.
A Peterborough City Council spokesperson said the city had been used for asylum seekers since 2001 and currently has about 550 asylum seekers (including the two hotels) in the city.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We remain committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers and continue to identify a range of accommodation options to minimise their use."