REGARDING the article in the Citizen about asylum seekers, the Blackpool Combined Association would like to inform you that we have already sent a delegation to lobby Barbara Roche at the Home Office in London.

This meeting was arranged by the MP for Blackpool North Joan Humble and supported by Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool South.

We made it clear to the Minister that the situation in Blackpool is unacceptable in that private companies are placing asylum seekers in our main holiday area, thus contravening local planning laws as set out in the Local Plan. In addition these unfortunate people are placed in properties within the main holiday area without any official support.

The BCA supports Council Leader Ivan Taylor to the full in his stance to safeguard the main holiday area and to protect tourism businesses from these private companies who do not have the welfare of the asylum seekers themselves at heart, but are simply interested in their own profit!

This also applies to the offending hoteliers who do not care what happens to Blackpool or to their own street in the scramble to make a few quick pounds.

It is a well established fact that once the holiday atmosphere disappears from an area you never get it back and the only people who suffer are the genuine hoteliers.

We have sent a letter to Barbara Roche, enclosing a copy map of the main holiday area and asked her to make clear to those councils who employ the private companies that their behaviour is unacceptable.

Erewin Belsky,

Blackpool Combined Associaion,

c/o Collingwood Hotel,

8/10 Holmfield Road,

Blackpool.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.