REFUGEES fleeing the war-torn Balkans will find a warm welcome in the Ribble Valley, a parish council chairman said today.

Health bosses have revealed that homeless Albanian Kosovars could be found a new home at Calderstones Hospital, Whalley.

The NHS Executive has contacted Calderstones managers about housing the refugees if they are brought into the UK.

The former old-style institution, which is mainly empty, has been put on refugee stand-by because it has the necessary heating and kitchen facilities.

Whalley Parish Council chairman Eric Ronnan said the refugees would be welcomed by kind-hearted Ribble Valley people "with open arms."

But he joined Whalley borough councillor Joyce Holgate in calling for the housing of refugees at the redundant hospital to be a temporary measure.

Coun Ronnan said: "If the Government accepts refugees on a short term basis and provides the funding for it, I would certainly support them being housed at Calderstones.

"There is enough compassion in the Ribble Valley to assist and help the refugees, until a more permanent solution can be found. "The kind-hearted people of the Ribble Valley would welcome these people with open arms.

"Their plight has touched us all, but for their sake the ideal solution is for them to eventually return home."

Coun Holgate said: "If Calderstones Hospital is chosen as a venue, we should be assured that it is a temporary measure, until conditions allow the Albanians to return home.

"We also need assurances that the Government will fund their stay in the Ribble Valley, but I can certainly see the hospital's potential as a home for the refugees."

Calderstones, the only remaining old-style institution of its kind in the North West, completed its programme of resettling patients in the community last month and most of the buildings are now lying empty.

Russ Pearce, chief executive of the Calderstones NHS Trust, said he had been asked by the NHS Executive to produce figures about the cost and implications of providing a home for the refugees.

Patients have now been moved out of the long-stay wards at Calderstones, but the hospital is retaining a medium secure unit for dozens of patients with "challenging behavour."

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