More asylum seekers '˜end up in Yorkshire because property is cheaper here'

The warning comes as MPs abnd council leaders demanded that immigrants must be more fairly dispersed around the country.

Since 2000, asylum seekers have been sent to temporary accommodation around the country in a policy designed to ease the pressure on London and the South East.

Now, local councils in northern England, Scotland and Wales are at the top of the table for having the highest concentration of asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers ended up in some of the poorest areas of deprived towns across Yorkshire, the North East, North West, Scotland and Wales.

In 2012, accommodation for asylum seekers was contracted out to services giants G4S and Serco, with the Government hoping to make budget savings of £140 million over seven years.

The private firms bid far less than the local authority housing providers offered to charge, said Heather Petch, a housing and migration adviser.

“Inevitably they are where the accommodation is cheapest,” she said. “There is no mystery in this.”

But some local authorities, which did not get involved with asylum accommodation in the early 2000s when some councils did bid for Home Office contracts, still have relatively low numbers of asylum seekers.

This may change if calls to spread the dispersal more evenly across all local authorities are heeded.

Politicians from some of the 10 councils in the country with the largest ratios of asylum seekers to residents said the situation, at a time of cuts to public services, was unacceptable.

Those top 10 were all in Northern England, Scotland or Wales, in places already struggling with unemployment deprivation.

It followed a policy started in 2000 to disperse asylum seekers away from London and the prosperous South East.

Outspoken Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk was furious that the Government was “dumping” asylum seekers in towns like his, causing a strain on schools and health services.

He said: “Rochdale is a cohesive community. We are quite diverse, but this is really upsetting the apple cart and it is creating tension.

“You have groups of asylum seekers, who through no fault of their own have nothing to do because they are not allowed to work, wandering around the town centre, not speaking English.”

Dave Budd, the elected mayor of Middlesbrough, which is the only local authority to have surpassed the Government’s guideline of 1:200 asylum seekers to residents, said it had “far exceeded its fair allocation”.

The town, where one in every 173 residents was an asylum seeker living in dispersed accommodation, was at the centre of the red doors controversy last week.

It emerged some asylum seekers felt stigmatised because their accommodation provided by Jomast, sub-contracted by services giant G4S, had red doors.

That made some feel they were easily picked out by racists and vandals. As a result, it was agreed the front doors would be repainted a variety of colours.

Stuart Monk of Jomast, and Peter Neden and John Whitwam of G4S, will be quizzed about the controversy today by the Commons Home Affairs Committee.

The Home Office said it will work with councils that raise concerns about asylum dispersal.

A spokesman said: “The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need our protection and we are committed to providing safe and secure accommodation while applications are considered.

“Asylum seekers are housed where there is appropriate accommodation available. Agreements between the Government and participating local authorities are voluntary and have been in place since 2000. We review these arrangements regularly and all asylum intake has to be approved by the local authority involved.

“We work closely with local authorities to ensure that the impact of asylum dispersals is considered and acted upon.

“We will work with any local authority that raises concerns about asylum dispersal.”