Daily Mail
December 8, 2013
More than 100 asylum seekers have been given rooms in a £125-a-night hotel that has hosted Premier League footballers.
The families will stay in the hotel until alternative accommodation is found – and the bill for the taxpayer could be as much as £300,000.
They are expected to remain at the 50-bedroom Amblehurst Hotel in Sale, which has hosted parties for Manchester United players, for at least nine weeks.
The local authority said it was given only 48 hours’ notice about the arrival of the 31 families – a total of 104 asylum seekers.
It criticised Serco, the private firm appointed by the Government to organise such accommodation, describing it as ‘incompetent’.
Councillor Matthew Colledge, leader of Tory-controlled Trafford Council in Greater Manchester, said the situation was ‘frankly ludicrous’, adding: ‘I have asked, along with partners from the NHS, for the decision to be deferred, but this is not to be.’
He expressed concern over the sudden strain that would be put on already stretched services, saying: ‘I recognise that some asylum seekers are escaping from appalling situations, and that may include the children arriving in Trafford.
‘However, with schools and GP surgeries full in the Sale area I question the logic of choosing this location.