Hotel in Middleton housing asylum seekers to close

Photo: Rochdale Council

Middleton Market

A hotel in Middleton which houses asylum seekers is set to close in the coming weeks, it has been confirmed.

This comes following a Home Office announcement in October that said 50 migrant hotels would be closed by March 2024. Hotels in the Rochdale borough and Wigan were part of the initial 50 hotels proposed by immigration minister Robert Jenrick in Parliament.

Another hotel in Rochdale, also run by operator Serco, was closed just before Christmas.

A spokesperson for Serco said: “I can confirm that we will stop using this hotel for asylum seeker accommodation in line with the Home Office Hotel Exit strategy and that the people there will be moved to alternative accommodation.”

According to the government, asylum seekers currently accommodated in these hotels will be moving to other parts of the UK’s asylum estate, including the Bibby Stockholm barge. Capacity has also been increased by making better use of current sites, Whitehall says, and by optimising room sharing and alternative accommodation, such as the former military base at Wethersfield.

A Home Office spokesperson said previously: “The Home Office continues to provide safe accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute, as we work to end the use of hotels which are costing UK taxpayers £8.2million a day.

“Asylum accommodation is allocated on a no-choice basis. Individuals may be moved and provided with alternative, appropriate accommodation in line with the Allocation of Accommodation guidance.

“We take the welfare of those in our care extremely seriously and at every stage in the process we work to ensure that the needs and vulnerabilities of asylum seekers are identified and considered.”

George Lythgoe, Local Democracy Reporter