10 times more for asylum seekers since1997
The Editor
East Kent Gazette
High Street
Sittingbourne
Kent 27th November 2004
Dear Madam
I was interested to read Derek Wyatt’s comments in response to my decision to launch a campaign (which kicks off in today’s East Kent Gazette) against the number of houses being imposed on our area by the Government.
Mr Wyatt asserts: “Eight thousand of the 9000 homes are destined for brown field sites, not green field”. Well, if Mr Wyatt believes that Thistle Hill (Sheppey), Iwade, Fulston Manor Farm and East Hall Farm are “brown field sites” it really does make me worry about the future for our community!
Mr Wyatt also tells us: “We have a serious shortage of homes in the South East”. That is a piece of nonsense being peddled by the Government as an excuse for slowly concreting over what remains of our green belt.
If there is a shortage of homes then it is because the Government is doing nothing to address the problem of economic imbalance between the north and south of Britain; an imbalance that is resulting in more people migrating southwards than ever before. In addition, many more new homes will be needed for the seemingly endless flow of illegal immigrants that is being allowed into our country!
What is not fully appreciated is that when Labour came to power in 1997, Kent’s annual expenditure on asylum support was just £279,943. Last year it rose to a massive £30,762,000 which means it now costs the taxpayer more than 10 times as much per year to look after asylum seekers in our county!
That figure would be entirely justified if all those extra asylum seekers were genuine refugees, but we know they are not. Indeed, we are seeing increasingly that people with a genuine case for asylum, who are making a worthwhile contribution to our economy and who make no call on public funds, are being sent back to an uncertain future, whilst many others, with far less convincing cases, are allowed to remain in the country and receive benefits for which they have not contributed. The whole system stinks.
The truth is that if we can introduce a fair and properly controlled immigration system, then it would not only release much needed resources for front line services, such as more policemen, but it would also relieve some of the pressure on our existing housing stock and reduce the need for any more houses to be built.
Yours sincerely
GORDON HENDERSON