As many as five hotels in Skegness are currently housing asylum seekers as the government continues to place people in temporary accommodation. Asylum seekers have been thought to have been housed in three hotels in Skegness for around 10 months.
Some residents have expressed worry. The three hotels include The Leisure Hotel on Drummond Road, The Sun Hotel on the seafront and Chatsworth Hotel on the seafront, according to a local councillor.
County Hotel on North Parade has recently been confirmed to the councillor as the fourth hotel in Skegness to be taking in asylum seekers and a fifth (The Grand Hotel) is now believed to be doing the same, reports Lincolnshire Live.
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District Councillor Danny Brookes said residents are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of refugees in the town and he told Lincolnshire Live that five hotels in the community are currently being used to house them. He said: "A resident rang me up last night (November 13) and said at about 8.30pm they'd seen two coach loads pull up at the The Grand Hotel. I've had a lot of concerned residents and business owners worried about asylum seekers taking up bed space which could be for tourists who would be spending money in Skegness.
"People say that they are intimidated because these are all young males that are being put here into a family resort which I think is outrageous. They originally said they would only be here for three months but they're still here. I think we've done our bit, why would they start taking more and more?"
The Home Office says that using hotels to accommodate asylum seekers is "unacceptable" and labels it as a "short-term solution". A spokesperson said: "The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.
"The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6million a day. The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation."
Serco is contracted by the government to provide accommodation for the asylum seekers entering the UK and it claims that the use of hotels is a "last resort". Jenni Halliday, Serco’s Contract Director for Asylum Accommodation Services, said: "With the significant increases in the number of people arriving in the UK we have been faced with no alternative but to temporarily accommodate some asylum seekers in hotels.
"These hotels are only used as a last resort but as a provider of accommodation services on behalf of the Home Office we have a responsibility to find accommodation for the asylum seekers that are being placed in our care. The Serco team is working extremely hard to move people into dispersed social housing as rapidly as possible."
Elsewhere in Lincolnshire, weddings have been cancelled in Stoke Rochford Hall Hotel as it has taken on more refugees.
Skegness is a town with a population of just under 20,000 people, according to a recent Census survey.
Lincolnshire Live has attempted to contact The Leisure Hotel, The Sun Hotel, Chatsworth Hotel, County Hotel and the Grand Hotel for comment. If the hotels were all full to capacity, that would be 143 rooms.
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