RESIDENTS say they are selling up and leaving their once-beautiful village after claiming migrants living in a hotel have turned it into a “hellhole”.
The Manor Hotel in the Berkshire village of Datchet has been turned into a holding centre for asylum seekers.
AFPAsylum seekers in a small boat crossing the Channel (stock pic)[/caption]
Jon BondThe Manor Hotel in the Berkshire village of Datchet[/caption]
Jon BondAn asylum seeker who lived at the hotel in 2022[/caption]
One hostile homeowner claims to have put his property on the market.
He told the Mail: “I put my house on the market, I’ve had enough. This has been such a nice village.
“It was safe and it’s been left to go to rack and ruin. It’s just becoming a hell-hole.”
Staff at local pub The Stag claim they have suffered a loss of customers following the hotel’s conversion into an asylum hostel.
One worker said: “When it was a proper hotel, it was used for weddings and parties so we used to get loads of guests coming over.”
Datchet is a stone’s throw away from Windsor Castle, and King Charles is reportedly driven through the village most days.
Some villagers said they fear house prices will plummet as Datchet loses its charm.
But local businessman Mo Tariq defended the asylum hostel and its residents.
He said the men are “polite” and law-abiding people who have come from difficult situations around the world.
The asylum seekers are banned from working under UK law – so have little else to fill their time save milling around on the village green.
This has reportedly sparked complaints from some villagers who find it an “eyesore”.
Mo said the hotel was not fully occupied when it reverted back to normal business for a time last year.
He said it made sense for the struggling hotel’s owner to take a government contract to house asylum seekers.
It comes as Britain saw the biggest rise in immigration last year — more than any other major economy, statistics show.
BOAT NAB Sir Keir Starmer hails arrest of suspected people-smuggling kingpin as he declares ‘there’s more to come’
PM Sir Keir Starmer has praised the arrest of a suspected people-smuggling kingpin.
The Turkish national, 44, was held in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
Sir Keir said his arrest was a “significant piece of the jigsaw”.
He added: “I’m not pretending it’s the silver bullet. Other steps are going to be necessary, but this is a very important step.”
The suspect is accused of storing dinghies in Germany to be moved to France. He faces extradition to Belgium for trial.
By Keir Starmer
SINCE becoming Prime Minister, it’s no secret that I’ve been driving forward efforts to boost collaboration with our European partners to tackle the challenge of illegal migration.
We were elected with a mandate to change our country and secure our borders.
And we’re delivering on our promise of change.
Bringing order back to our asylum system won’t just safeguard our national security, but deliver economic security too, as we slash the amount of taxpayer cash that was being spent to keep the system from descending into chaos.
And let’s be clear, this isn’t just about migrants being loaded into boats in Calais.
This is a criminal network that spans the continent – supplying materials, facilitating transit, trading in human misery.
Some 746,900 “permanent-type” migrants moved to the UK from overseas — up from 488,400 in 2022.
The 52.9 per cent hike is the highest for the world’s richest nations in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
South Korea ranked second, with a 50.9 per cent surge, followed by Australia with a 39.7 per cent increase.
In terms of raw numbers, Britain only had fewer border arrivals than the United States’ 1.2million, and America’s population is five times the size.
While the ballooning migration figure happened under the last Tory government, it piles pressure on PM Sir Keir Starmer to make good on his promise to bring it down.
Rob Bates, from the Centre For Migration Control, said: “The figures show that Britain is now an international outlier, embarking on a disastrous policy of mass migration at a pace and scale without parallel.
“We cannot continue like this. Without a serious effort to end this country’s mass migration addiction, our public services will eventually buckle under the strain and the British public’s quality of life will continue to deteriorate.”
Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “The PM has been repeatedly clear that migration has been far too high in recent years. It needs to come down.”
Jon BondThe Royal family frequently drive past the hotel[/caption]
Jon BondThe government procured the hotel as a residence strictly for asylum seekers[/caption]
EPAIt comes as Britain saw the biggest rise in immigration last year[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
