A HOTEL used to house asylum seekers in Whitehaven will be closed in plans announced by the Government today.

The Waverley Hotel on Tangier Street, which controversially started housing asylum seekers last year, will be one of 50 hotels to close by the end of January.

The Home Office has already notified local authorities, MPs and the accommodation providers, informing them that the first 50 hotels temporarily accommodating asylum seekers will be exited as part of the move to return hotels to their proper use by communities.

Hotels will be gradually handed back to hoteliers by the end of January 2024, with the first of these expected to be exited in the coming days.

Asylum seekers currently accommodated in these hotels will be moving to other parts of the UK’s asylum estate, including the Bibby Stockholm barge.

Copeland MP Trudy Harrison said: “Further to the announcement today from Minister Robert Jenrick, I am pleased that there has been a successful outcome and that the Waverley Hotel will no longer be used to house asylum seekers.

“I would now very much like to see the Waverley Hotel being used as a hotel to assist in the mission of ensuring that Whitehaven becomes a tourist destination of choice and that we encourage the millions of visitors that come to the Lake District to travel to the town and other areas of my constituency to enjoy and celebrate all that we have to offer.”

Whitehaven town councillor Edwin Dinsdale said: “I welcome the decision to close the Waverley Hotel as an asylum seeker hostel. The campaign was never about the people it was about the process.

“In my opinion the location of the Waverley Hotel wasn’t right and the costs that are attached to housing asylum seekers in hotels just doesn’t make sense.”

Cumberland councillor Joseph Ghayouba said: "The root cause of this issue is an asylum system that is not fit for purpose and cases are not being handled in a timely fashion. We need to have a humane asylum system and one which works quickly and efficiently the government is failing on both fronts."

Robert Jenrick, immigration minister said: “Taxpayers cannot be expected to foot the eye-watering bill for the use of hotels to accommodate individuals making illegal, dangerous and wholly unnecessary small boat crossings. 

“Our strategy to stop the boats is making progress. With small boat arrivals down more than 20 per cent compared with last year, we can now start to restore these hotels to their rightful use for local communities.

 “We remain absolutely determined, through the implementation of the Illegal Migration Act and our Rwanda Partnership, to dismantle the smuggling gangs’ business models and stop the boats entirely.”

The Home Office says it will work closely with accommodation providers and local authorities to manage the exit process in a way which limits the impact on partners and service users.

A spokesperson for West Cumbria Refugee Support Network (WCRSN) said: "For the last 15 months the Waverley Hotel in Whitehaven has housed people seeking asylum in the UK.

"West Cumbria Refugee Support Network volunteers have reached out to support them, signposted them to volunteering opportunities, and helped them to improve their English and integrate socially at the Language Cafe and the Warm Hub.

"It has been wonderful to meet people from so many different countries, many of them becoming good friends.

"Along with other charities, we have provided clothes, suitcases, shoes and football sessions. They in turn have offered friendship and volunteered to clean up churches, planted thousands of bluebells that will give us pleasure when they have long gone, worked on Walkmill Wood and volunteered on projects run by the Groundwork Trust and Works4U."