The Liberal Democrat team on Shropshire Council is to ask councillors and officers to act urgently to help settle refugee families in our county. We are doing this because we do not believe that anyone, let alone a body with the expertise and resources of Shropshire Council, should stand idle while desperate refugees suffer and die as they flee war torn countries on the borders of Europe.
Our request comes in the form of a motion to the Shropshire Council meeting on 24 September. It will be proposed by Andy Boddington, councillor for Ludlow North, and seconded by Andrew Bannerman, councillor for Coton Hill and Quarry in Shrewsbury.
Andrew Bannerman says:
“We need to act quickly and flexibly. We are not suggesting that Shropshire takes in thousands of refugees. If we found homes for just ten families, that’s ten families rescued from a state of crisis.”
“Shropshire Council is a civic leader and has a lot of expertise. It should help shape our county’s response to this emergency. This crisis is not going to go away any time soon. Shropshire Council must play its part, as must all of us.”
Andy Boddington continues:
“It is a natural instinct to think that it is someone else’s responsibility to deal with a crisis. Other countries. Other organisations. Other people. But the reality is that it is everyone’s duty to deal with extraordinary suffering like this. As just one council, one volunteer group or one individual we perhaps can’t achieve a huge amount. But as hundreds of councils, thousands of volunteer groups and millions of people we can make a really big difference.”
“That’s why we will be asking Shropshire Council to back this motion at its next meeting. We are asking it to join councils, volunteer groups and individuals all over the country who are doing their bit to help refugees.”
The motion
This council:
- believes that we all have a moral responsibility to aid and resettle refugees
- it is the duty of the government and all councils to react to this humanitarian crisis by helping shelter families classified as refugees under 1951 Refugee Convention.
This council resolves:
- To recognise that it should join others in taking urgent action to help refugees.
- To set up and empower a politically balanced group of councillors. This will work with the Housing Options team and external organisations to take action to help refugees find a home and settle in Shropshire.
- To accept and discuss reports from the group at: the Cabinet meeting of 28 October 2015; Performance Scrutiny Committee; and full Council on 17 December 2015. The reports will state the group’s progressing conclusions; the actions that it has taken or proposes to take; and the actions the council has taken or is recommended to take.
- To instruct the Chief Executive to write to the county’s MPs and the prime minister to remind them of the UK’s moral responsibility to resettle many more refugees than currently proposed. The Chief Executive should seek guidance from the proposed group on the wording of his letter.
Proposed: Councillor Andy Boddington
Seconded: Councillor Andrew Bannerman
Hope this happens are there are families here that would temporarily house families while the Council found more permanent homes, we could be one such family
Thanks you Len. I’ll post details of ways people can get help as and when I get them.
Do you know of some houses available for them?
There are many offers coming in of temporary shelter. Finding long term accommodation will be a major task for our proposed group.
IMO “Refugee” is an emotive label,
Buy all means accept refugees, there are thousands in camps awaiting resettlement,
None of these recent arrivals in Europe are refugees, they just want a temporary haven until it’s safe to go back, ie when Assad has gone.
http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1415/AsylumFacts
“There is a great deal of confusion about the difference between an asylum seeker and a refugee and often the terms are used interchangeably or incorrectly. An asylum seeker is someone who is seeking international protection but whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined. In contrast, a refugee is someone who has been recognised under the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees to be a refugee.
I don’t think refugee is at all emotive. As it says in our motion, we use the 1951 Convention to define refugees. As for your comment that people just wanta temporary haven, I think you perhaps don’t understand the scale of the humanitarian crisis on the borders of Europe.
I am looking to find ways of being proactive in helping. I have organised a large collection of donation and shipped them out. However, if the time comes I would like to be notified if I can feed or temporarily house a small family/person.