TLK Apartments in St Mary Cray is now welcoming back guests and holidaymakers after the Home Office announced the closure of 20 asylum hotels. It comes as part of the Government’s drive to remove incentives attracting illegal immigrants to Britain.
Bromley Council confirmed that no asylum seekers who were living in the St Mary Cray hotel were being rehoused in the borough via the council’s housing register.
On Thursday (June 25), the Home Office announced the closure of 20 asylum hotels across England, two of which were located in Greater London. As well as TLK Apartments, Best Western Wembley has been emptied of migrants. The Bell Hotel in Epping was also among those brought back into public use.
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All 20 hotels were being used to house asylum seekers, the majority of whom entered the UK illegally. Eleven other asylum hotels reopened in April, which the Home Office said saved taxpayers £170m this financial year.
The Home Office also claimed the number of asylum hotels in use has more than halved to just under 170. Meanwhile, the number of asylum seekers in hotels has been slashed by more than half, with now just 21,000 down from a peak of 56,000.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said: “We promised to close every asylum hotel and hand them back to communities. That is exactly what we are doing here in Greater London.
“Twenty more hotels are now closed across England, hotel numbers have more than halved since their peak, and we are moving people into large, basic sites that are a far cry from the hotels the last Government left us with. This is a system being brought back under control – and we will not stop until the job is done.”
Last August, Bromley Council released a statement regarding TLK Apartments asserting that it wasn’t being used to house “single young men” as was being believed locally and had been reported on social media. The South East London authority also said police were not investigating any incidents relating to the asylum seeker hotel.
A Bromley Council spokesperson said at the time: “Our first hand advice remains that the hostel is currently occupied by children, women and families only in temporary accommodation, awaiting a decision from the Government concerning their future immigration status at which point they will leave.
“Also, that there are no current police investigations in relation to residents of the TLK apartments taking place, contrary to other reports circulating.”
Racist graffiti also appeared in St Mary Cray near to TLK which was believed to be linked to the presence of asylum seekers in the Orpington suburb.
Following yesterday’s reopening announcement, a Bromley Council spokesperson said: “Bromley Council welcomes the Government’s cessation of the use of TLK Apartments in St Mary Cray to house asylum seekers.
“This was the only ‘asylum hotel’ in the borough and went ahead despite the council’s objections. We are pleased that TLK Apartments will now revert to normal use and would like to reassure residents that none of the asylum seekers who were resident there are being rehoused via the council’s housing register.”
