RELIGIOUS leaders from across the region have backed a campaign calling on council bosses to welcome Syrian refugees to Malvern.
As we reported last week, Malvern Hills District Council (MHDC) and Worcestershire County Council agreed to review Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Relocation Scheme which they both rejected earlier this year.
The scheme aims to provide homes for up to 12 families from the war-torn country and in an open letter delivered to the two authorities 21 key figures from a variety of faiths urged council leaders to take action.
Among those were representatives from the Amida Mandala Buddhist Temple, the Methodist Church and Malvern Quakers as well as Bishop of Worcester Dr John Inge.
It reads: “We are a group of concerned people active in organisations across Worcestershire, articulating the feelings of many in our community who believe Malvern Hills should play its small part in welcoming and supporting a small number (up to 12) of Syrian refugee families under our Government’s EU-funded Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Relocation Scheme (SVPR).”
The group describe the Syria’s civil war as a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ and believe more should be done to help refugees.
“By the end of March 2015, some 187 people have been resettled here in the UK from refugee camps in countries adjacent to Syria – a fraction of the numbers that have been accepted into Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Serbia, and Sweden,” it said.
“Here in Malvern we approached our district and county councils in December 2014 and February 2015 respectively requesting that they respond positively to the Government’s invitation to all local authorities to host a small numbers of families, and to work in partnership with community organisations and professional agencies for health, housing and other potentially relevant services. Initially, our request met with strong political support from councillors.”
MHDC and the county council both refused to back the bid in July due to lack of financial support from the Home Office. But the group think ‘un-evidenced estimates of costs’ have been drawn up and have pledged to work with councillors to come up with a scheme.
The letter added: “We know we are speaking for very many local people when we urge our District and County Councils to gather and review the evidence more thoroughly, not simply speculate about costs, then to reconsider their decisions in this respect.
“This would not be the first time that the beautiful Malvern Hills area has extended its hand of support and helped rebuild the hopes and lives of people so much less fortunate than ourselves.
“We absolutely must not make a relatively small amount of money the excuse for sitting on our hands as another harsh winter in the UN camps approaches.”
Visit www.worcesterobserver.co.uk to read the full letter and all the names which signed it.
