Hillingdon wins £1.8m grant for asylum seeker costs

9 Mar 00

A planned council tax increase of 12% in the London Borough of Hillingdon was dropped at the last minute on Monday in favour of a rise of 7.9%, after the government came up with an 11th-hour grant approval of £1.8m to pay for housing asylum seekers.

10 March 2000

The funding gap, which had been £2.3m, was brought down to less than £600,000.

But the government was heavily criticised for the lateness of its assistance by the Conservative leader of Hillingdon, Richard Barnes.

'They have gone a long way to meeting our needs,' said Barnes. 'I just wish it hadn't taken three months to do it.' He added that the government should be fully funding the costs of asylum seekers.

Hillingdon is one of the councils that has borne the brunt of asylum seekers arriving in Britain, as Heathrow Airport is within its boundaries.

PFmar2000