Govt announces Ukrainian style scheme to bring thousands more migrants to UK

Jaxjacky

Primrose53

It’s almost like the Govt really wants to upset people!

Just reading about 21 new build houses worth £250,000 each which are being given to asylum seekers. This is in Stoke Heath, Shropshire. Locals are very unhappy because they could never afford houses like these despite working and paying their taxes. Do Labour not realise that people will be angry and upset about this?

Do your research Primrose found to be fake news, designed to enrage the gullible.

If you are correct then newspapers, radio progs, TV news all fell for the “fake news”.

If we don't get those youngsters into those jobs or jobs like them, we are failing a generation, and the price ( and I don't mean economically) will be catastrophic.

Jaxjacky

Primrose53

It’s almost like the Govt really wants to upset people!

Just reading about 21 new build houses worth £250,000 each which are being given to asylum seekers. This is in Stoke Heath, Shropshire. Locals are very unhappy because they could never afford houses like these despite working and paying their taxes. Do Labour not realise that people will be angry and upset about this?

Do your research Primrose found to be fake news, designed to enrage the gullible.

Found to be fake news by whom? I can find no evidence that it’s fake news Jaxjacky. Can you share please.

Primrose there is some semblance of truth, but the way it has been biased is incorrect. A question in the house by the local MP explained local concerns.

Sorry Primrose I get fed up with our media and click bait on many subjects that requires digging to find the facts.

Primrose where would you like asylum seeker families to be housed? We are talking about "families" with children, not lone adult males, families. These are "families" who have fled war and famine, they have crossed the channel in a small boat. Where would you like them to live?

It’s not fake news then. All the media I’ve looked at is reporting the same.

This is an odd story and I expect there is more to it than meets the eye. For a start, a walk with Google Maps show these new houses appear to be on an isolated estate of what look like mostly 1960s built homes. The new homes were in an advanced state of build in April 2025 when Google captured the image.

So my first question is, why are they still unoccupied over a year later?

I have found a old press article which says work began on the site in 2022 by HJB Properties Limited. Companies House records show there was a notice to strike off the company in 2023 which is suspended. There was opposition to some aspects of the development:

www.shropshirestar.com/news/north-shropshire/market-drayton/save-our-park-shropshire-residents-rally-to-fight-off-developers-5910399

The local MP Mark Pritchard as posted several times about this issue on FB (without actually saying much about what is known) as well as raising the issue in the HoC.

Pritchard is holding a public meeting for local people only on Thursday 2 July. He has made the point that people have been coming from out of area to cause trouble.

Under one of his statements on FB, someone has posted that the houses have been "built by cowboys" are still not finished, nor are the roads and there is a local issue with flooding including waste.

www.facebook.com/markpritchardmp

In my city, asylum seekers have been housed in accommodation that developers have found impossible to sell or rent because they built on flood plain (which does flood on a regular basis) and is a long walk from any facilities, bus stops, shops etc - (as this development appears to be). Nobody else wanted to live there. The developers had been trying to offload the homes for three years and eventually came to some arrangement with Home Office agencies.

I’m wondering if this development in Shropshire is a similar white elephant.

Graphite I am sure there is more to this story but I'd still like to know where people who object to families being housed here would like these families to be housed. What do they consider is suitable housing? Where would they like traumatised children to live until their asylum claim is processed? It's a simple enough question, please can someone answer it?

I know what you mean, foxie, but I do think there is an issue if there is a disproportionate arrival of people into a very small and isolated rural community - which this appears to be and where I don’t imagine there is much work.

I shall wait to hear more after the meeting on 2 July.

This is from a government paper. We have:

• 12 core cities: major population and economic centres (for example London, Glasgow, Sheffield)
• 23 other cities: other settlements with a population of 180,000 or above (for example Leicester, Portsmouth, Aberdeen)
• 116 large towns: settlements with a population between 60,000 and 179,999 (for example Warrington, Maidstone, Barnsley)
• 271 medium towns: settlements with a population between 25,000 and 59,999 (for example Gravesend, Batley, Dunfermline)
• 787 small towns: settlements with a population between 7,500 and 24,999 (for example Heanor, Yeadon, Cinderford)
•6,593 villages and small communities: settlements with a population under 7,500 (for example Goff’s Oak, Aylsham, Ystradgynlais)

Finding homes for people needs to be done in a way that distributes families in proportion to the size of the settlement irrespective of how expensive or relatively inexpensive the location is deemed to be. Isn’t this what is causing resentment in less expensive parts of the country where people feel their communities are expected to take a disproportionate share of newcomers in areas which are already disadvantaged by years of decline.

Shabina Mahmood has now announced that migrants will not be housed in new build homes.

For clarity, it was NOT fake news that these new builds were going to be given to migrants. One couple have already moved in so I guess they may be moved out now.

Thank you Graphite I’d seen some of the information but am rubbish at posting links.
I do agree with proportionate and appropriate placement of any larger group of people where the needs of both them and the existing inhabitant may not be met.

Will be interesting to see who will live in them now.
Such a shame for the couple who were given that house.

Jaxjacky

Sorry Primrose I get fed up with our media and click bait on many subjects that requires digging to find the facts.

Thank you Jaxjacky just seen your apology.

Maremia

Will be interesting to see who will live in them now.
Such a shame for the couple who were given that house.

Would be good if these new builds were given to veterans.

I think it would be unkind to veterans to put them in poorly built houses which are prone to flooding, on an estate in a rural area. Those who find themselves homeless are often single men with difficulty adjusting to civilian life, who need help to find local employment, and access to mental health support.

It’s odd that a development of 25 houses that began in 2022 is still not finished according to local residents. It does sound like the original developer went bust three years ago so that will have contributed to the delay but doesn’t explain why the development looks well advanced 15 months ago but is still unoccupied.

I can see that the original planning application for 25 houses was approved ten years ago in 2016.

In March of this year, the current developers O'Shea reapplied for a deed of variation to a Section 106 agreement so that they did not have to include three affordable homes. I’ve picked out a few key extracts from the application:

Now that the build is near completion …

.. despite the applicant approaching several Housing Associations, three units fell below the threshold of interest for any Housing Association contacted.

The appellant has made several attempts to contact Housing Associations, both before the commencement of development and more recently, without an offer being received.

As such, this application for a deed of variation to the Section 106 agreement attached to the planning permission to delete ‘Section 1 Affordable Housing Dwellings’ from the Third Schedule ought to be approved so that no on-site affordable dwellings are required.

You can see the planning statement here:

pa.shropshire.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=TBFWWXTDGV900

News reports say the properties were originally understood by villagers to be affordable or social housing and a whole estate’s worth of social housing will be given to foreign nationals ...

but it appears that was not the case that this was primarily a development of houses for sale and that only three “S106” homes were going to be included, but housing associations showed no interest.

Until the meeting takes place on 2 July we won’t know what has happened here, why the developers may have decided not to sell the homes on the open market.

As I said before, more to this than meets the eye and not as it is being represented in the media.

Casdon, that is exactly the point.
Just give the houses to anyone, whether or not they are suitable for those people.

And yes, Graphite.

People are so desperate for homes, so what is actually going on with this particular development?

Primrose53

Maremia

Will be interesting to see who will live in them now.
Such a shame for the couple who were given that house.

Would be good if these new builds were given to veterans.

Why?

Maremia

People are so desperate for homes, so what is actually going on with this particular development?

I wonder if they have built ‘executive’ houses on an unsuitable site, and priced them too high accordingly. Maybe would be executive home owners would object to social housing on their exclusive estate so the developers are trying to say it’s not necessary! Just a guess.

20:23*foxie*48

France perhaps or numerous countries they have crossed to get here, why cross in a small boat to England oh for a nice new house.

I did a bit more digging on this.

Dutton Close is in a very rural location. Shropshire council says the existing houses were built for military personnel stationed at RAF Tern Hill and their families.

An old Google map image from 2009. predating the development, shows some low boarded-up buildings. According to Shropshire council this was a derelict social club.

The site was deemed 25% brownfield suitable for 9 dwellings and the remaining 75% greenfield for the remaining 16. In planning documents the site is called The Club.

Planning permission for 25 houses was originally given in 2016 to include three units of social housing under S106.

Development began in 2022. The original developers went bust and the current developers took over the project and the debt in 2023. Why it has taken three years to get the houses built in not known.

In March 2026, Shropshire council removed the S106 requirement after the developers provided evidence that despite the applicant approaching several Housing Associations, three units fell below the threshold of interest for any Housing Association contacted.

I cannot find any evidence that the 25 homes have ever been offered for sale on the open market.

The close is in the middle of nowhere and seems an unsuitable place for any families needing to find local work and school places. It doesn’t even look at if there is a local shop. Without a car to get into Market Drayton, it would be very isolated. It’s perhaps why the developer would find it hard to sell the homes and has done a deal with a Home Office agency to either sell or lease them.

Thanks Graphite these stories are never what they are purported to be by the media, but why spoil a good story by printing the truth? It is a much better solution having families in a house rather than in a hotel room. It's temporary accommodation until their asylum claim has been processed but clearly wouldn't work as permanent housing or they would have been taken over by a housing association.
There seems to be people who want to see children, who have already had difficult traumatic lives, continue to live in completely unsuitable accommodation. Shame on you, these families with children have committed no crime apart from being born into a country at war or governed by violent repressive regimes, surely a few months respite in decent housing is not too much to offer them?