A SPECIALIST lawyer has been appointed to help Kosovar refugees who fled to East Lancashire apply for asylum.

More than 100 refugees who have made their homes in Blackburn now have just four weeks left to make their applications to stay in this country.

They were granted 12-month permits to stay in the country, and their future in the area and even the country is not definite.

Home Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw has warned councils that Kosovars will not automatically be granted asylum and that each case will be looked at on its individual merits.

Councillor Sue Reid, chairman of Blackburn with Darwen Council's social services committee, said: "We have received a letter from the Home Office updating the situation and setting out further details about the procedure for applying for asylum.

"As yet none of the families or individuals staying at Laneside or at Shadsworth House have applied for asylum and they have until the end of March to formally lodge a request for asylum.

"Staff are dealing with all the queries as the people from Kosovo make them and have arranged for a specialist lawyer to come and discuss their rights.

"The majority of the families have expressed a wish to return to Kosovo, indeed four families returned to their homeland in September. "Several men have returned to Kosovo on a specially arranged explore and search journey to see what they can expect to find when they return permanently.

"Those that have already returned to Blackburn say their homes are destroyed and there is nothing for them at this time, but are still hopeful to return to Kosovo in the near future."

More than 100 Kosovar refugees in Blackburn have extended leave to stay in this country until June and will continue to live at Laneside and Shadsworth House.

Refugees accepted by Lancashire County Council's social services department were originally housed at Calderstones Hospital in Whalley, last year, and the majority have been moved to flats and houses in Burnley, Preston and South Ribble. Others have returned to Kosovo.

A spokesman for the social services department said that LCC has no jurisdiction over the refugees and each individual council is now charged with their care.

"A lot of them went back to Kosovo, so not many of them needed to be rehoused," she added.

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