A legal fight to stop the Bibby Stockholm being used as migrant accommodation was being heard in London’s Royal Courts of Justice as we went to press, after a donation from Dame Vanessa Redgrave got the fund over £25,000.
If the case, launched by Portland’s mayor Carralyn Parkes, is approved it goes on to judicial review.
Carralyn, who is mounting the effort as a private citizen, paid tribute to hundreds of donors who enabled her to tackle the Home Office.
She wrote: “I’m particularly grateful to a large donation from Dame Vanessa Redgrave, a longstanding activist and defender of refugee rights, who got us across the £25,000 line. But please know that every donation, large or small, and every single comment of support, have been incredibly heartening and uplifting. Talk about people power!”
A spokesman for Deighton Pierce Glynn Solicitors, who are handling Carralyn’s case, said: “Our client is taking a brave stand against the Home Office’s attempts to circumvent important planning rules and protections to use the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate vulnerable asylum seekers. She is asking the court to rule that proper procedures should be followed and that local people and authorities should be given the opportunity to have their say.”
The court date comes as it was revealed The Home Office is paying nearly £300,000 per week for the empty barge. It is claimed the Government will pay more than £22m to Corporate Travel Management for an 18-month lease. The i newspaper says The Home Office pays more than £287,000 per week, and in the two months since the barge was evacuated, the bill has totalled more than £2.2m.
With just 39 asylum seekers accommodated before it was evacuated due to legionella, the accommodation would have cost more than £7,300 per person a week.
Ministers insist that refugees will shortly return to the barge, despite a challenge by the Fire Brigades Union, who are concerned it will pose a huge risk to the refugees on board. Meanwhile, those who were briefly living on board say they are fearful of returning, describing it as “like a prison”.