Chichester District Council commits to supporting Afghan refugees

Friday, 20 August 2021 07:00

Chichester District Council has pledged support for the Government’s planned programme to house refugees from Afghanistan.

“No one can fail to be moved by the desperate plight of the Afghan people or the scenes of many fleeing the current situation that we’ve seen on our televisions,” says Councillor Alan Sutton, Cabinet Member for Housing, Communications, Licensing and Events at Chichester District Council.

“As a council, we are committed to playing our part to support the Government’s emerging plan, which aims to help those most in need, particularly women, girls and those who have been helping British operations in Afghanistan. In the same way that we have helped Syrian families to settle in the Chichester District, we are fully committed to supporting the national effort to help the most vulnerable Afghan people to resettle in the UK, in any way that we can.

“We understand that the Government is looking to resettle 20,000 Afghan refugees in the UK over a number of years, with 5,000 in the first year. This is in addition to the current Afghan Locally Employed scheme, which works to relocate at-risk Afghan workers who have supported coalition troops. We’re proud to say that Chichester District Council was one of the first districts to have housed a family under the Locally Employed scheme, and that we are looking at housing more people in the near future.

“In our area, West Sussex County Council will lead on managing any scheme to resettle Afghan refugees in the county, and we are committed to supporting this effort by providing annual funding. Our main role would be to identify suitable housing that can be used as part of the scheme, as we have already done under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, which has successfully housed a number of Syrian families in the Chichester District over the last few years.

“We will know more as the Government’s programme is developed, but any plans to resettle Afghan refugees in our area will follow a similar process to the Syrian Scheme, with the Home Office coordinating rehoming centrally as part of a national initiative.”

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