Latest Teesside headlines straight to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Middlesbrough has the highest proportion of asylum seekers in England - becoming the only place in the country to breach national guidelines.

The Government says that no local authority area should need to accommodate more than one asylum seeker per 200 of population.

But a Middlesbrough Council report has revealed almost 1,000 asylum seekers are currently being housed in the town - almost one-and-a-half times the Government limit.

Middlesbrough's current population is estimated to be 138,400, according to the authority's website.

Most asylum seekers have no-one to stay with, so are sent to homes around the UK while the Home Office decides whether to grant them asylum.

The process can take up to a year.

Government figures show a total of 982 asylum seekers are currently housed in paid-for accommodation in Middlesbrough.

In the report, Richard Horniman, economic development manager at Middlesbrough Council, says the town has seen a rise in the number of asylum seekers through Government-funded regional contracts.

He said it was down to “lower value housing” offered in parts of the borough - which make it cheaper to house people.

Mr Horniman added that “significant property portfolios” owned by sub-contractor landlords are also a factor.

Housing for asylum seekers — people who are in the process of applying to be recognised as having fled persecution in their countries — is provided by international security service company G4S in Middlesbrough.

The report adds that migration is “most evident” in Gresham and central Middlesbrough and adds that Stockton also has a high proportion of asylum seekers.

Justice First, a Stockton-based charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers and helps them to build new lives in the UK, said current conditions for asylum seekers were tough,

The charity’s manager, Dr Pete Widlinski said it was therefore important that communities like Middlesbrough did not “turn their backs on extremely vulnerable people.”

“These people can be coming from the most horrendous and traumatic backgrounds and it is good that we can offer them a place that is far away from such hardship," he added.

“People seeking asylum are filling empty properties, providing employment, and look for available resources to use, creating very little impact on our area.

“I do understand people in Middlesbrough have concerns about immigration but these are people who are literally fleeing for their lives and as a civil society and a community we need to be able to offer them refuge.”

The report, due to be discussed at a meeting next Monday, recommends the setting up of a regional “strategic migration partnership”.

It also said information about economic migrants is “harder to track” as there is no central register and the impact of such migrants is “largely unknown”.

The partnership would be led by Middlesbrough Council and funded by the Home Office to manage issues surrounding migration as well as carry out research the economic and social impact.