Something went wrong - please try again later.

Thank you for signing up to The Courier daily newsletter

Sign up for our daily newsletter of the top stories in Courier country

Dundee City Council has refused to reveal how many refugees it will accept from war-torn Syria, though it has pledged to play its part in a major national effort.

Neighbouring local authorities have already made public details of their response, with council and private homes being readied for the arrival of families.

Fife Council has pledged to take around 140 refugees over the next four years.

The first family has already arrived in Perth and Kinross and the council there said it will welcome around 30 refugees by the end of the year to be “housed in private accommodation, not in council houses”.

Angus Council has yet to indicate how many refugees it will take but has already earmarked council housing for arrivals.

Dundee City Council has declined to detail its response, but a “sustainable and measured” approach to helping refugees has been laid out by council leader Ken Guild. He said families fleeing the crisis who make the city their home can expect to be “treated like any other Dundonian in their time of need”.

It was agreed by councillors in September that the local authority would express an interest in participating in the UK Government’s Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) Scheme.

Mr Guild said time had been taken to prepare the city’s response to the crisis, but he would not be drawn on the exact number of refugees the city is willing to accept.

“We have taken our time to ensure that Dundee is not only able to accommodate refugees, but to do so in a way that meets their needs and the needs of the communities they will be living in,” he said.

“I wanted to ensure that Dundee took a positive and measured approach to the situation and not to simply start throwing numbers about.

“Those who come to Dundee can be assured that the council and its partners who provide services in the city are ready, willing and able to make sure that refugees will have all of the support that any other Dundonian in their time of need would get.

“People in the city have rallied round to an incredible degree, making donations to charities, giving their time to collect and sort the items handed in and keeping the plight of the Syrian refugees high up the agenda.”