It's official. Home Office confirms who will be moving into Milton Keynes' asylum seeker hotel

City MP Ben Everitt has finally has official confirmation from the Home Office about who exactly will be moving into the asylum seeker hotel in Newport Pagnell.

And it seems neither MK officials nor the hotel’s owner had got it exactly right.

The Home Office confirmed this evening (Friday) that families AND single people are moving in to Harben House hotel in Tickford Street. And the first group of them has already been moved in today.

But the government has failed to specify whether the “single people” are male or female – despite the fact that this is the biggest point townspeople wish to clarify.

Tory MP for MK South Mr Everitt put in questions to his government’s Home Office earlier this week after the Citizen revealed exclusively that Harben House had been earmarked to house 200 asylum seekers.

At the time, it was thought by city officials that all the migrants would be single males and this led to concerns from many people in the town about local people’s safety.

Yesterday (Thursday) the Citizen tracked down the owner of the hotel, Siddharth Mahajan, whose company Tulip Hotels and Real Estate Ltd bought the place just two weeks ago and quickly refurbished it.

Mr Mahajan, together with Countrywide Hotels, the company he has contracted to run the asylum seeker hotel, both said the only occupants would be migrant families.

"I’ve been out buying nappies and baby food today for the families. It’s just gossip that the place will be filled with single males,” said the Countrywide rep.

But tonight Ben Everitt received the long-awaited official reply form the Home Office and he has issued a statement to the Citizen.

He said: "After constant dialogue with the Home Office I can now confirm there will be a mix of families and single adults at the asylum seeker accommodation in Newport Pagnell. The first group has moved into the site today, with the final group set to arrive early next week.”

He added: “Please be assured that security and support staff will be on site 24 hours a day and the Home Office has confirmed to me additional staff could be added if it is felt necessary.

"Home Office providers will work with the emergency services to mitigate any risks to the wider community. If there are any concerns of anti-social behaviour at the hotel there is a process for managing this.”

The MP said he would continue to press the Home Office to make sure the asylum processing is done as quickly as possible and will provide updates “should the situation change."

Yesterday (Thursday) Mr Everitt asked that nobody should be moved into Harben House until the confusion is cleared up. It seems this request has been ignored by his government.”

Meanwhile the Citizen has an appointment on Monday to meet with owner Mr Mahajan and Countrywide Hotels representatives at the hotel to see for ourselves what is happening and get answers to a list of questions.