OH dear!
The move to put 450 migrants on a barge in Portland Port is not going to plan.
I take no pleasure in saying that I and Dorset Council (DC) warned the port of the risk it was taking straying from its core business.
Only a handful of migrants had arrived on the barge before Legionella bacteria was discovered.
As a precaution they were removed to temporary accommodation outside Dorset while the vessel’s pipes and water are tested.
The responsibility for this rests with the barge operators, CTM and Landry & Kling.
The results are not known at the time of writing.
Let’s not forget that this barge was foisted on us by a private agreement between the Home Office and the port’s owners.
The move has been condemned by virtually everyone, whose opinions were not even sought.
Placed in a remote and highly secure location, I still cannot see how the dispossessed and vulnerable men will cope on what will, in effect, be a quasi-prison.
How long the barge will remain in the port is unknown.
We are told 18 months, but my colleague Priti Patel has accused the government of being ‘secretive’ and ‘evasive’ over plans to use a former RAF barracks in Essex for five years.
After all the recent commotion, I have been deluged with requests for comment.
My answer is the same.
It is not for me or DC to defend a policy of which we have had no part, nor knowledge.
I will of course continue to monitor the situation, although it is not known when the barge will be reoccupied.
In the meantime, questions must continue to be addressed to those responsible; the Home Office, the Port and the contractors.