Hotels, schools and even caravan parks targeted by asylum seeker misinformation

PLUS: NHS league table sets out the challenge for hospital trusts in Lancashire

Hello and welcome to The Lancashire Lead.

Misinformation around the issue of asylum seekers is nothing new. I’ve been debunking claims of various sites being used for that purpose for the last two years.

Sometimes, even elected politicians get stuck in. Nobody apologises when they’re wrong.

But the last three weeks has been particularly eye-opening. There are reports across the county of sites being used for asylum seekers. It dominates the only space and is rarely rooted in any sort of fact.

That is the focus of today’s edition, but we also report on the new NHS league table and what it means for the trusts operating in our county.

Misinformation over asylum seekers helping nobody

Kings Arms Hotel in Lancaster

By Luke Beardsworth

What do a 400-year-old hotel in Lancaster, a holiday park in Longridge, an Ibis in Preston and a school in Darwen have in common?

It is that businesses or local authorities have had to issue statements debunking unevidenced rumours they would be used to house asylum seekers in just the last three weeks.

There are two hotels being used to house asylum seekers in Lancashire - at the Metropole Hotel and the Preston Hotel at Leyland.

The Tickled Trout Hotel at Samlesbury is being used to house people as part of the Afghan Resettlement Scheme.

But numerous rumours that further hotels, or other sites, would be used for this purpose have come to nothing and there is a belief that misinformation is being used to divide communities.

Cat Smith, MP for Lancaster and Wyre, said: “Stirring up uncertainty or fear based on rumours and not facts helps absolutely nobody, and this should not be used to divide our community or spread misinformation about asylum seekers - many of whom have fled conflicts and persecution.”

In Lancaster, the Royal Kings Arms was closed last week due to a repossession. There is hope that the building can be reopened and staff can be re-employed, though it is far from certain.

The scale of the challenge faced by Lancaster City Council was perhaps best demonstrated when a member of the public stating on Facebook that the authority was wrong to say there were no asylum seeker hotels in the district.

Lancaster City Council, unusually sharp for a local authority responding publicly, said: “Your statement is incorrect and we have answered it with factual information that you clearly you don't like. Whatever we say you will have your own narrative and believe what you want.”

For Beacon Fell View Holiday Park, in Longridge, management moved to reassure the public that asylum seekers would not be moving into caravans on the site.

When asked by The Lancashire Lead where that rumour had started, management said they had no idea.

In Darwen, Blackburn with Darwen Council denied that the former Technical School building in Union Street had been bought by the authority to use for asylum seekers.

In fact, the council had not bought the building and it will not be used for that purpose.

A spokesperson for the authority added: “We know how quickly things like this can spread, but false information can cause real worry, fear, and disruption in our community. If you hear anyone talking about it, please help by sharing the facts instead.”

And in Preston, the suggestion was that the Ibis close to the Broughton roundabout on Garstang Road would be used for asylum seekers.

The hotel is closed while it completes its transformation into the Preston North Travelodge.

Travelodge has been forced to repeatedly clarify that it has no contracts for asylum seeker accommodations and no plans to do so.

That wasn’t the first time a Travelodge in Preston had found itself subject to misinformation.

In August, a journalist called David Atherton shared a video of a group arriving at the New Hall Lane site, stating as fact: “This is the Travel Lodge in Preston, as a load of Muslim migrants become a burden on the taxpayer.”

Atherton, whose own bio describes him as a journalist for the European Conservative despite having written two articles for them in the last year, is not based in Preston and, unsurprisingly, was not telling the truth.

Around 478 members of the public have donated to Atherton’s attempts to crowdfund ahead of an alleged defamation trial. He does not make clear who or why any trial has been brought.

Cllr Suleman Sarwar, at Preston City Council, said: “This is on New Hall Lane – St Matthew’s Ward, my ward.

“A lot of false misinformation is being spread online. Muslim families are booking hotels with their hard-earned cash like anyone else.

“Spreading lies and filming people is scummy behaviour.”

All of which brings an old saying of dubious origin to mind: “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.”

The issue of migration and asylum seekers remains one of importance to voters and so it’s expected that people will ask questions.

But the number of asylum hotels in the UK has dropped from more than 400 at its peak to 240, and the backlog of asylum claims has also been reduced.

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Recommended reading this week

🗳️ An upcoming by-election, the rise of Reform UK and controversy surrounding a Hebron friendship agreement means its been a rough time for Preston City Council leader Matthew Brown. To his credit, he answers questions and critics openly in this interview with Blog Preston.

🎸 A much-loved music venue in Lancaster faces being knocked down and fans are rallying round against the plans. At the time of writing, more than 750 public objections have now been sent to Lancaster City Council , with one Kanteena supporter saying it was a ‘soulless and braindead decision’. The Lancaster Guardian reports.

➡️ A petition which opposes partnering Blackburn and Burnley in a new council area has been launched by the latter's council leader. The petition, ‘We say NO to Burnley & Pendle being merged with Blackburn’ has garnered 950 signatories since being posted last week. More on local rivalries scuppering local government reorganisation here.

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Hospital trusts in Lancashire under pressure after NHS publishes performance ‘league table’

By Michael Holmes

The NHS trusts running the hospitals in Blackpool and Preston have been named as two of the worst in England.

League tables of the best and worst-performing trusts in the country have been published for the first time by the Department of Health and Social Care.