"Our Peaceful Village is Under Threat: Residents Fear Life Will Change with Surge of Illegal Migrants"

ELDERLY residents are outraged after hearing that their sleepy village will soon be inundated with young asylum seekers.

Residents living in a cul-de-sac in are bracing themselves for an influx of who are being kicked out of hotels.

Janet Howard fears her neighbourhood will feel unsafe if the move goes ahead Credit: John McLellan Ernest Mackey moved to the sleepy suburb in the 1960s says he fears the arrival of asylum seekers will impact the community feel Credit: John McLellan

The relocation comes after the government announced it would end the use of by 2029 and instead relocate them to properties across the UK as part of its ‘dispersal’ scheme.

Residents in the leafy area have raged the area is not appropriate – and said they were not consulted.

“I’m gutted,” said Janet Howard, 74, who has lived in the peaceful suburb for 14 years.

“This is such a lovely place to live – it’s a community. There are a few young ones about, but they won’t be able to hang out like they used to.”

She added: “This is a stupid place to put them, there’ll be completely isolated.”

Janet said her views on the current government could “not be printed” and that the news has devastated her.

It is believed the properties were bought by London businessmen last year and let on a longterm lease to the contractor, , whose from such contracts.

They have since been converted into (HMOs), designed to home six people each.

Many of the residents say the area is not suitable for young asylum seekers, given the lack of amenities or public transport Andrew Deal, who has lived in the suburb for nearly forty years, says he is worried Credit: John McLellan

A Whitehall leak revealed that the asylum seekers – aged between 17 and 21 – are expected to move into the properties in the coming months.

“You think you’re going to see out the rest of your days here – but something happens like this that turns that around,” said Janet.

John Phillips, 86, who has lived on the road since 1963, said they saw mattresses being moved in one day.

He claimed he had been told a family was moving in – only to realise that this was not the reality.

Phillips said: “They asked if we had any objections, we said no. But now that’s not the case. It’s the sneaky .”

Many of the residents feel they have been left in the dark, frustrated by an apparent lack of consultation or information regarding the move.

Ernest Mackey, 86, who has lived on the street since the 1960s, said: “I’m up in arms. There’s been no notification.

“We don’t know who’s coming, they’ve been very elusive.”

Helen, 74, who works at a private , lives a few houses up from the property but admitted she was “a bit nervous” about the move.

“It’s a , there’s only one way in and out. I’ll definitely notice when they’re here,” she said.

“They might be decent people, but you don’t know anything about them. It’s changed the feeling of the area already.”

Anothe property in the suburb has had its garage and conservatory converted to make room for six asylum seekers.

The Government faced scrutiny in Crowborough earlier this year Credit: Getty Migrants gather outside the Royal Hotel in Hull last summer

Julia Wright, 51, who manages a , lives right next door to the converted property, which belonged to her mum before she died.

She said that she and her brother had sold the property to an “investment company”, not realising it would be turned into an HMO.

When they asked the estate agents about it, they said there was nothing they could do.

“It was extremely underhand, ” she said. “The government needs to be honest and upfront about it.

“I appreciate they have to go somewhere, but don’t put them in a cul-de-sac. I don’t think it’s the best area. There’s no local amenities.

“I feel personally like I’ve let my neighbourhood down because I was the one who sold the property.”

Andrew Deal, 67, who has lived in the area for nearly four decades, has a direct view of the property.

“We’re all worried about security,” he said.

Workers carrying mattresses into the Britannia International Hotel last July in preparation for migrants moving in Credit: SelwynPics Migrants look on from a dinghy as they prepare to cross the English Channel Credit: Getty

“A lot of us have those , with the camera, but there’ll be more and more of them when the [asylum seekers] move in.”

He said he had been watching the conversion for the past few months, which has seen the split in half and the garage bricked up and connected to the main building.

“My neighbour’s livid because they’ll be able to see straight into his property,” he said.

He claimed that no one had discussed the plans with the local residents.

“It’s a . If we want to plant a tree, we have to go to the parish council and go through the rigmarole.

“It’s pretty imminent – we’re all concerned, especially with what you’re hearing in the news, with the women and children,” he said.

“It makes you worried.”

The news comes after residents in Surrey in HMOs in their sleepy suburb in April.

Villagers from Laleham were outraged by the government’s approach to soaring immigration numbers and claimed the Home Office was masking the problem by dispersing asylum seekers across the UK.

The Home Office , East Sussex, at the start of this year.

The eye-watering £5.6million conversion of an army barracks into temporary residence for asylum seekers had local residents up in arms outside the military site, chanting “Starmer is a traitor”.

A spokesperson for the council said: “The council is aware of a Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) enquiry regarding a property in the area.

“Where a property meets the legal definition of an HMO, the Council has a duty to process any licence application.

“If granted, the Council can apply conditions to ensure properties are safe, properly managed and suitable for occupation.

“[The council] does not select or approve properties for use by external organisations, and decisions about the occupation of accommodation sit with the prospective licence holder.

“[The council] is required to assess applications against specific criteria set out in law, which focus on the suitability and management of the property.

“Our priority is to ensure that all licensed properties meet the required standards, and we will take appropriate action where those standards are not met.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Medway Council was consulted before this accommodation was procured.

“We will close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament, with asylum seekers moved into basic accommodation including former military sites.

“We are reforming our asylum system to remove the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain and increase removals of those with no right to be here.”