MP IAN Liddell-Grainger is calling on the Government to make provisions for asylum seekers’ care after a Home Office decision to house them in a hotel near Bridgwater.

Mr Liddell-Grainger says plans to take over Bridgwater’s Holiday Inn to accommodate up to 300 cross-Channel migrants will play out very badly in an area where education and medical services are already under strain.

The Home Office says it wants to make accommodation available at the Market Way hotel as soon as possible and is in discussion with Sedgemoor and Somerset county councils.

Officials say billeting migrants in hotels is not an ideal solution and the Holiday Inn will only be an emergency centre.

Meanwhile, they have asked to be notified of any other suitable sites in the Bridgwater area.

But Mr Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said significantly no time limit had been put on the hotel’s ‘temporary’ role.

He said: “In the absence of any prospect of a long-term solution to the problem of slowing, let alone halting the flood of asylum seekers, there are bound to be fears locally that this will become a permanent local fixture.

“The Government simply cannot plonk migrants down in groups around the country and hope everything will be fine.

“As far as this area is concerned the local schools are full and the GP and medical services are already overstretched.

“This is far from being an ideal site to place asylum seekers. It’s some distance from a shopping centre and very poorly served by public transport.

“All these factors should have been taken into account before it was settled on.

“And the reason we have hotels in Bridgwater is that we have Europe’s largest infrastructure project underway on our doorstep and we need the accommodation for key workers.

“I am not prepared to see economic activity in the area negatively affected just because a civil servant has stuck a pin in a map and decided to place asylum seekers under our care.”

Mr Liddell-Grainger has also asked Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick what follow-up funding the Government intends to provide to help local agencies look after them.

The hotel has been “block booked” and had to cancel its existing reservations.

A Somerset County Council spokesperson said: “We are aware that the Home Office has block booked a hotel in the county to be used for asylum seekers rehoused from the Manston Centre in Kent.

“This is one of many such bookings around the country. The council will cooperate with the Home Office and other public sector partners to ensure the asylum seekers are properly supported during their stay in Somerset.”

A Home Office spokesperson said the asylum system is “under incredible strain”.

The spokesperson also said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

“The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6million a day.

“The use of hotels is a short-term solution, and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.”

Somerset County Council leader, Cllr Bill Revans, said: “First of all - this is a Home Office decision and the arrangement was made with Holiday Inn directly.

“Neither Sedgemoor District Council nor Somerset County Council knew anything until contacted by the hotel staff.

“It is not a council decision as some have claimed. The Home Office has a massive backlog on processing asylum claims and is booking hotels in several areas of the country as a temporary emergency measure.

“Council officers, police, NHS, and voluntary sector groups met today with the Home Office representatives and managers of this facility to clarify the management arrangements that will be in place.

“I am satisfied that appropriate arrangements have been set up to support the new residents of the hotel and the local community.

“We will be working closely over the coming weeks to minimise any impact of this facility while the asylum claims are resolved.

“We will be closely monitoring the situation closely and if you have a specific concern please do email me on bill.revans@somerset.gov.uk.”

The Bridgwater Mercury also approached IHG Hotel & Resorts but they declined to comment.