Highland army houses could be used to home Syrian refugees
A
rmy houses – and even Army barracks – could be used to accommodate Syrian refugee families when they come to settle in the Highlands.
The move is being proposed by Inverness West Scottish National Party councillor Allan Duffy who has written to the Prime Minister with the suggestion.
Inverness Ness-side councillor Alasdair Christie said it would be "segregation".
He said: "That sounds to me like a different sort of camp, a different sort of environment, a controlled environment, an oppressive environment and non-friendly environment and a nonintegrated environment so I think we just need to kick that into the long grass straight away."
However, council leader Margaret Davidson said she was "very uneasy" with the criticism of Councillor Duffy’s suggestion.
She said: "I don’t think we will have to use Army barracks, we might have to use some Army houses if they are empty. That might work very well."
The debate took place at a meeting of the full council in Inverness yesterday.
And speaking after the meeting, Councillor Duffy, who is a former military man, said he was not suggesting segregation.
He said: "I wasn’t speaking along the lines of wanting to put them in a concentration camp if that’s what Councillor Christie was suggesting. We could easily pull the fences down if people feel like that. It’s like a small community in there. Some of these barracks have been closed-up and they are spacious and could be good for single people or for families."
The council leader is appealing to private landlords or people who own vacant houses who may be able to offer a house for rent to a Syrian refugee family.
The local authority is expecting to take around 25 to 30 families from Syrian Refugee camps early in the new year as part of the UK Refugee Resettlement Programme.
Councillor Davidson said: "Maybe these empty houses across the Highlands which are in their own way an affront to many of us with our housing problems, maybe the owners would like to put these forward for rent to families and then we can look at the spread that we have got."
Visit www.highland.gov.uk/refugeeaccommodation for details.