Plans to house asylum seekers at Llanelli hotel withdrawn by Home Office
Carmarthenshire County Council has welcomed the move.
Carmarthen County Council says it's received written confirmation that the Home Office no longer wants to house asylum seekers at the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli.
The local authority says it will now work with the police and hotel owners to ensure the site is managed properly - and for the good of the community.
In a statement, the leader of Carmarthenshire County Council Darren Price says he welcomes the decision by the UK government to withdraw its plans.
As tensions rose in the community - the local authority wrote to the Home Office last week - calling for a rethink.
Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, Cllr. Darren Price said: “I very much welcome the decision of the Home Office to withdraw its plans for the Stradey Park Hotel; it’s the right decision for the hotel and more importantly, it’s the right decision for the people of Furnace.
“Now is the time for the community of Llanelli to come together, to heal from the experience of the past few months.
“On the issue of providing sanctuary to people in desperate need, I will reiterate Carmarthenshire County Council’s desire to continue to welcome our share of asylum seekers from countries such as Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria to our county via the dispersal model which has worked successfully in Carmarthenshire for many years.”
Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith said: “The announcement by the Home Office to withdraw its plans for the Stradey Park Hotel is welcome and I am pleased that they have finally listened to the people of Llanelli who knew that it was the wrong decision all along.
"This debacle has seen the hollowing out of a key landmark hotel in the area with the loss of almost 100 jobs.
"It has created divisions within local communities and taken up valuable resources from our public services at a time when they were already stretched.
"We now need to move forward and bring our town together once more.”