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Boat for asylum seekers
By David Taylor, Home Affairs Correspondent, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 04.10.02
The Bibby Progress: can house 500 people
A floating hotel capable of housing 500 asylum seekers on the Thames is being considered by the Government, it emerged today.
The converted "hotel ship" once used by the French Foreign Legion would be permanently docked at Tilbury on the Essex side of the Thames Estuary as part of Home Secretary David Blunkett's plans to accommodate asylum seekers.
Home Office sources were refusing to go into detail today, but news of the plan has emerged after Thurrock council said it had been "made aware" of the proposal to use the ship, the Bibby Progress, as an asylum accommodation centre.
The five-storey 91-metre floating hotel was built in 1976 as an oil rig supply barge, but it was converted into an accommodation unit and renamed Bibby Progress in 1990. The air-conditioned "coastel" has 155 rooms with the capacity to house up to 620 people by adding extra beds.
Since 1976, the vessel has had a varied history - it was based in the South Pacific where it was used to accommodate soldiers of the French Foreign Legion, it was used on three occasions by the US Navy for its sailors and, most recently, police in southern Italy took it over for a temporary barracks.
Thurrock-council leader council Andy Smith said they had been told the ship would be moored in the port of Tilbury. He immediately voiced "strong opposition" to the plans, adding: "We're doubtful we could cope with the impact of a large number of refugee families in one area who may require a range of support services.
"We're strongly opposed to the proposal, principally because of concern for the needs of vulnerable asylum seekers. This has to be thought through with the utmost care for the sake of residents and refugees.
"As I understand the proposal, the refugees would be able to come back and forth from the ship and this has implications for people who would have no knowledge of the area, may lack language skills and have not been able to form relationships with the local community."
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "It's prudent to consider all of the options but we will not comment on the specifics until we consider it feasible and likely that we will progress with it."
