A local MP is hopeful of a win over asylum seekers being housed in a town-centre hotel in Bracknell.
Peter Swallow has been pressing ministers about refugees in Bracknell Forest. The town already hosts Afghans who supported British forces under the Afghan resettlement programme - some staying in the Grange Hotel - and residents say taking more asylum seekers would be "more than its fair share".
So far, people rehoused under the Afghan resettlement scheme haven't been counted when working out how many asylum seekers each council should host. Ministers now say they will consider the wider local picture, which could recognise Bracknell's contribution.
On June 29, Swallow asked in the House of Commons:
"My honourable friend will know that Bracknell welcomed Afghans who supported our armed forces in transitional accommodation under the Afghan resettlement programme.
"But under the system introduced by the Conservatives that is not taken into account when considering a local area's ability also to deliver asylum accommodation.
"He will know that I have been lobbying him on this matter, because small unitary authorities such as Bracknell Forest council cannot be expected to do more than their fair share. Can he provide an update on progress?"
The minister of state in the Home Office, Alex Norris, replied:
"My honourable friend has doggedly pursued me on this very important issue.
"It is really important that, as the Home Office, we consider the broader context-such as what he says with regard to Afghan resettlement scheme provision-around a community's ability to sustain a supported population and that full dispersal model we inherited from our predecessors.
"What we have put in place, in our attempt to close the gap between local government and national Government, is a postcode check process, so that councils can say, "Well, hang on a minute, there is provision in this area that means it might not be suitable."
"We are going through that process in Bracknell at the minute and I will work with him to hopefully get to a satisfactory conclusion."
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
