THE floods crisis has hit plans for refugees from war-torn Syria to be rehomed in the area – with Cumbria County Council 'exempted' from national plans to find homes for refugees with councils across the country.


County chief fire officer Jim Onions, who is co-ordinating Cumbria's response to the refugee crisis, has told the Government that much of the previously available stock of rental housing in the county has been rented out to people affected by the floods so there is no capacity to take in refugees.

 


It is estimated that on average people waiting for homes to dry out and to have building work done will be out of their homes for six months.


In an email sent to Refugee Support and Sanctuary Cumbria (Resscu) a grassroots network of people committed to helping refugees, Mr Onions said: "Together with other pressures that the councils are all facing at the moment, it means that we cannot accept refugees for the foreseeable future.

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"We are going to review this position in March to establish at what stage the county will be in a position to accept them. Nonetheless we are not likely to see refugees in Cumbria until July 2016."


Matthew Connolly, the man who last year set up Resscu, said: "I totally understand that there is now a local crisis which eclipses what is happening internationally.


"After the floods we need to lick our wounds and sort ourselves out first, but as someone who has been working hard to help refugees for many months I want the message to be that we are still on the case and will not give up.


"I worry now that the atmosphere of welcome that was building up for people from Syria has changed but I also believe there is still a real groundswell of compassion for refugees and so we will keep working to make sure people come here."


A spokesman for the county council said: “Before the floods Cumbria was among the first to offer assistance to Syrian refugees and to date, all the refugees that have come to the UK have been successfully allocated to other parts of the country.


"We will keep this situation under review but obviously since the floods our focus, first and foremost, has to be on supporting our own communities through these difficult and challenging times.”