West Kirby Today has been told that that asylum-seeking families in Hoylake are too fearful to leave their accommodation as a result of protests this week.
The former King’s Gap hotel has been used by the Home Office to house those seeking what is known as ‘leave to remain’ since 2020.
Initially it was occupied by single men, but after a year the focus shifted to families, whose children have attended local schools whilst they await the outcome of their application.
However, last Monday local councillors revealed on social media that the government had told the council that it was set to become a home for single men again by the end of the week, and that they were working with the local authority to oppose the plan.
In a post accompanied by red flashing alarm lights, they described the plan as “a concerning move” and pledged: “We’ll keep you posted on every upcoming development”.
Some comments called for a protest, and while the councillors later updated the post to urge people not to, it proved to be too little, too late.
Since Tuesday, there has a significant police presence in the evening, as dozens of people with opposing views on immigration have gathered on each side of King’s Gap.
St Luke’s Church has been supporting asylum seekers in Hoylake for five years
Cate Warbrick, the community development worker at the nearby St Luke’s Methodist Church, has been working with asylum seekers housed at the hotel since 2020, including the single men who were based there for the first year.
She became involved during the height of the pandemic when Wirral Council and a refugee charity knocked on their door asking for help, and they opened the church as a place for the occupants to have a meal.
“Over the course of weeks I particularly realised actually a lot of these young men wanted to cook for themselves, so we opened up the kitchen and they came and started cooking for themselves and for anyone else who wanted a meal and that’s really where our work started from.
“They wanted to help the church. There were lots of different nationalities at that time. You had Iranian, you would have had Iraqi, Syrian, Kurdistan – many of the African countries. It was a bit like the United Nations.
“I remember being really fearful that first night because while we are diverse in Hoylake, we are not ethnically diverse, and I wondered how we were going to cope with the language barrier but very quickly, love, kindness [took over as] that is a universal language.
“So over the next year it was great, we worked very very well…and to this day we still have regular integrated meetings about the hotel and who is in the hotel. It is a really good example of coming together to be the best we can be for the people at the hotel”.
Asylum seekers at St Luke’s Church
In 2021, the hotel closed but then reopened for asylum-seeking families, and the church’s emphasis shifted. In the first week, they drafted in ex-teachers to run lessons before the children started school.
Cate says the families that are in the hotel currently found out three weeks ago that they would be moving out, but it “won’t have come as a surprise” as they will have known they would not be placed there indefinitely.
Even though the protestors are only present for a couple of hours in the early evening, she says she has been told the current occupants are currently too scared to leave the premises during the day so their children can play with toys at the church.
“I offered Serco and the families the opportunity for the children and their families to come down this morning, as we have done countless times over the last five years. Serco were incredibly responsive and said ‘we’ll ask them’. Sadly [I was told] today they are too fearful to leave the hotel. That’s the first time in five years and makes me incredibly sad that we have a community now where people do not feel it is safe to walk through.”
Cate has been attending the protests to talk to people about their work supporting asylum seekers: “Everyone is there with a different reason.
“I think there is a genuine concern that people weren’t informed and found out via social media late Monday night. I think that is a legitimate concern and the problem with that is that it also breeds complete misinformation as people try to fill the blanks. Even today people believe the hotel has no one in it and that 300 men are due to arrive. That is simply not true. There are six or seven families with about 12 children in total in the hotel.
“I think there are a large number of people who are attending the protests who are not local, on both sides. I hesitate when I say both sides, because in between are lots of different groups.”
She sympathises with the concerns of locals, telling me: “I suspect what local residents want is accurate information and a desire to sit down and work out how we can make this work. And if we don’t want to make it work as a community, [we need] to recognise that it is better petitioning the Home Office than anything else.”
She said her message to local people is: “Could we have a conversation?”, adding: “Can we all hear each other’s perspective?
“I’m not naive enough to assume that because there was no trouble last time there wouldn’t be trouble this time. And I fully accept and understand that it may be that the population’s view on immigration is tipping this, whereas in 2020 it may have been more focused on the pandemic.
“I would remind people that we had no trouble [in 2020]. I would remind people that these people, I’m not sure I would take their journey for £7 per week.
“And that we have a wonderful community that has been incredibly, committed, inclusive and accepting. And I’d like to see that community come back together and do that again.”
Wirral Council leader, Cllr Paula Basnett, says she is seeking clarification from the Home Office on whether planning approval is required for the change, and has urged people to respect the “peace, safety and wellbeing” of both the families and neighbours.
Meanwhile, local councillor Andrew Gardner has defended the way in which he and his colleagues announced the Home Office move on Facebook. He said: “The families [are] to be replaced with a significant amount of young males, where the only significant open amenity space has been left to go to the rats by WMBC. These poor guys haven’t even got anywhere to kick a ball.
“Hoylake councillors will not be party to cover ups, or not telling the truth, to not giving out the facts. Anybody who thinks that the public should not receive legitimate information because they think it inconvenient should take a long hard look in the mirror.”
