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In May, on the eve of the local elections, Reform-led Lancashire County Council vowed to withdraw the county from the government’s refugee resettlement scheme. It would be the first local authority to do so.
Those plans will be brought before cabinet on Thursday of this week - which means the potential impacts and savings of those plans have been laid bare in reports published by officers at Lancashire County Council.
And even thinking pragmatically, with purely financial head on your shoulders, it is hard to see any possible advantages to doing so. Refugees would remain in Lancashire, it would not affect asylum seekers whatsoever, but Lancashire County Council would cut off an avenue of its own funding.
It appears to be a level of waste that even Reform UK’s fabled DOGE unit couldn’t fail to see.
All of which was put to Reform UK this week - who said they would comment after a decision had been taken. These plans are not a done deal, and it might be that they choose to continue the scheme until Lancashire County Council is abolished in 2028.
Lancashire briefing
🚗 United Utilities has paused controversial plans to introduce parking charges at a series of beauty spots in rural Chorley – and promised further “dialogue” with the community.
The water firm operates seven free car parks in the vicinity of the Rivington and Anglezarke reservoirs and Lever Park, close to the borough’s border with Bolton.
It emerged back in March that the company was considering charging vehicles to park at the sites – while promising to pour the proceeds back into the area by upgrading the broader facilities on offer at the popular location.
However, the prospect caused uproar amongst locals and visitors – and two petitions against the charges have so far attracted more than 5,500 signatures between them.
Now, the firm has rowed back on its proposal – withdrawing the planning applications it had lodged seeking permission to introduce the necessary charging and monitoring infrastructure. It said it will take the opportunity to carry out further consultation with the local community.
🏠 One of Lancashire’s largest social housing providers has been awarded more than £326 million in government funding to build thousands of affordable homes, but has not yet revealed how much of the investment will be spent in the county.
Together Housing Group has secured £326.6m through Homes England’s new Social and Affordable Homes Programme, with the housing association expected to deliver 3,200 homes before 2031. The allocation is the second-largest awarded to any provider in the first wave of funding announced this week.
The government has described the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme as the largest investment in social and affordable housing for a generation, with 33 strategic partners selected to help deliver tens of thousands of new homes across England.
But while Together Housing owns and manages thousands of homes across East Lancashire, including in Blackburn, Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Rossendale, neither the government announcement nor the housing association has provided a breakdown showing how many of the 3,200 homes are planned for Lancashire.
In its announcement welcoming the funding, Together Housing said the homes would form part of a wider programme expected to deliver 4,000 homes across West Yorkshire, 2,200 across South Yorkshire and 4,400 across Greater Manchester. Lancashire was not specifically mentioned.
🌳 Hyndburn’s MP Sarah Smith has welcomed a move to upgrade parks across the borough, admitting that she was ‘shocked’ by the state some had been left in by 14 years of austerity.
The UK Government has awarded £1.5 million in funding to Hyndburn Council to help restore public spaces, with two recreation grounds set to receive a facelift in the coming weeks.
Windsor Road Recreation Ground, close to Great Harwood’s town centre, is set to be the first to benefit from this grant, with its old and tired play area being overhauled with new swings, slides, and modern equipment.
Families and little ones will also be able to enjoy brand new interactive features that reference the nearby fire station, with work due to begin in September. But it is not the only park in Hyndburn getting overhauled this Autumn.
Rishton’s Harwood Road Recreation Ground will be receiving similar upgrade, with ‘inclusive’ play equipment for children of all ages, but also a large block-climbing feature in case all the swinging and sliding is not enough to tire the kids out.
Withdrawing Lancashire from refugee resettlement schemes would not save a single penny
By Luke Beardsworth
Plans that could see Lancashire County Council withdraw from its involvement in refugee resettlement schemes would not save local taxpayers a single penny.
A report prepared for Thursday’s (4 September) cabinet meeting sets out three options for Lancashire County Council as it reviews its role in a number of refugee resettlement schemes.
These options include stopping responsibility for all settled refugees, stopping responsibility for new arrivals through the schemes and continuation of support of existing families or continuing the current arrangements.
If cabinet - made up largely of the ruling Reform UK party - opts to quit the schemes, it would make good on a promise by Joshua Roberts, cabinet member for rural affairs, environment and communities, who announced the plan on the eve of the May local elections.
It was, at that time, described as a political stunt but Reform UK said that money spent on resettling refugees would be diverted to help support vulnerable residents and veterans in Lancashire.
But The Lancashire Lead understands opposition councillors were invited to a briefing at Lancashire County Council this week where they were told by officers that withdrawing from the scheme would not save any money whatsoever - because the funding is provided by the Home Office.
Instead, Lancashire County Council has estimated that it would need to find £800,000-£1,000,000 to plug a funding gap in its services that are provided for all residents in Lancashire - refugees and non-refugees alike. Lancashire County Council, if it were to pull out of the scheme, would seek to recoup this money from whichever authority or body carried it out in future.
Cllr Roberts stated earlier this year that the refugee resettlement scheme is costing £7m per year ‘of your money’.
Reform UK said they would not comment publicly on the report until after the meeting when approached by The Lancashire Lead but this could be a reference to the £6.4m given to Lancashire County Council by the Home Office in 2024/25 as a result of being a part of the scheme. That number fell to around £4m in 2025/26.
Of the total £18m of funding provided to Lancashire County Council to the Home Office since 2020, £6.5m of it remains unspent.
But there is no prospect that Lancashire County Council would be able to redivert funding to veterans and vulnerable residents. They could find extra money in their budget to do this in some areas - but they could do irrespective.
Cllr Aidy Riggott, leader of the Conservatives at County Hall, told The Lancashire Lead: “Despite all the rhetoric and bold Facebook claims, according to the Reform administrations own report, it appears that any decision to opt out of the coordinating role that the council currently undertakes for these schemes will potentially leave up to a £1m black-hole in the Councils finances.
“As Reform know, the central government funding that came with these schemes was also being used to provide statutory services for residents here in Lancashire, which LCC will still have to deliver when they have withdrawn from these schemes for legally arrived refugees, but now without the cash that previously came from central government.
“What Reform now need to do is to confirm what further cuts they will make to services here in Lancashire, what budgets will be further reducing to cover for the potential lost £1m, to ensure delivery of a legally balanced budget – a budget which is already showing a £15m+ overspend on their watch after only the first quarter of this year.
“To govern is to choose and that is what the Reform administration now must do.”
The Lancashire Lead understands that withdrawal from the scheme would not end refugees resettling in Lancashire as families could still be dispersed into the county by other local authorities and organisations. It does, however, mean that Lancashire County Council would no longer receive funding - even where it has a statutory duty to deliver services to refugees.
The schemes that would be affected are the UK Resettlement Scheme - which is the UK’s response to the global refugee crisis - and the Afghan Resettlement Programme. In both instances, all of the individuals involved are not asylum seekers, arrived legally and have indefinite leave to remain.
In the latter case, it relates to Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK government in Afghanistan, stood up for UK values such as a women’s rights or freedom speech during that time, are considered vulnerable to Taliban threats or were assessed as being at the greatest risk by staying in Afghanistan.
It would have no bearing whatsoever on individuals who arrived - by boat for example - to the UK seeking asylum.