I was deeply concerned that the company operating the Dilkhusa Hotel had offered its facilities to the Home Office to house asylum seekers, but I am pleased that having contacted Minister and the Home Office directly and with the full support of North Devon Council, that the Dilkhusa Hotel will no longer be considered as an Asylum Contingency Site.
Whilst I fully appreciate the need to look after those who are waiting for asylum cases to be heard, I believe very strongly it should be in a facility within a larger town, so it does not put further strains into an already remote, coastal community where healthcare provisions are already stretched.
I will continue to press Ministers and Home Office officials that while we in North Devon want to help, that Ilfracombe is not the right place for this potential processing centre. I have already written to the Secretary of State about this case, but also to review the entire policy of taking over operating hotels in remote, coastal communities.
I very much hope the hotel will now reopen its doors to paying guests, which the wider, tourist economy in Ilfracombe relies on.
Selaine Saxby MP
