RUMOURS flats in Weaverham could house asylum seekers after social tenants were given their marching orders have sparked ‘frustration, concern, and upset’.
Nine flats above the shops on Northwich Road, at the heart of the village, have been managed by housing association, Your Housing, since 1999.
Your Housing doesn’t own the flats but rents them on a long lease, which comes to its natural end this November.
But after failing to negotiate a new agreement with the owner, Your Housing has confirmed it is handing them back.
Eight of the nine flats, all at the western end of the block, have sitting tenants, who have been told they need to be out by November.
They will all receive £8,100 statutory compensation, as well as full support from Your Housing to find alternative homes from within its portfolio of properties.
As it has no other properties in Weaverham and only a few in Northwich, it is expected the tenants will have to move some distance.
What happens next for the flats has become a major cause of concern for some Weaverham residents after rumours started circulating they could be leased to the government to house asylum seekers.
This follows chancellor Rachel Reeves' decision, announced on June 11, to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels by 2029, in an attempt to save the country £1 billion a year.
Whether the Weaverham flats will be used in this way is a private business matter between their owner and the government’s chosen provider for asylum seeker housing, Serco Group Ltd.
Also present were Dave Lovatt, regional manager for Your Housing, and two members of CWAC’s refugee and asylum seeker team, Shelah Semoff and Stephanie Ward.
The meeting was attended by around 80 residents, many upset about Your Housing's choice to surrender the lease on the flats in the first place.
Speaking for Your Housing, Mr Lovatt said: “After intensive dialogue with the landlord, it became clear the relationship could not carry on.
“It was an amicable decision at the natural end of a long-standing lease.
“We are a private housing association, and we have to make the pennies add up.”
Mr Lovatt added Your Housing was ‘well on its way’ to securing satisfactory alternative homes for six of the eight households in the flats.
One of Northwich Road's sitting tenants, Maria Hamilton, praised Your Housing and Cllr Edwards for their support throughout the rehousing process.
She said: “They have totally supported us in finding new homes from the beginning, and we are still being supported.
“The whole thing has made me ill, but they are still working hard to find me somewhere in the area I’ve asked for.”
Addressing the rumours the flats will be used to house asylum seekers, Cllr Edwards said she thinks the owner’s preference is to find another social housing provider, similar to Your Housing, to take them on.
She said: “There has been a lot of rumour and speculation in the village over the flats on Northwich Road, which can damage trust.
“This is why I have been liaising with the owner to try and establish his future plans.
“But I can assure you, I am working hard with him to find another social landlord to take them over.
“This is the easiest form of management for him, and he is aware of the strength of public feeling on this issue.”
Addressing a question how long it would take to install asylum seekers if the owner took that option, CWAC's Ms Semoff said: “They could be turned around very quickly if they are in a liveable condition.”
She added while CWAC’s refugee team has no direct involvement in decisions where to house asylum seekers, she believes Serco 'is not currently in negotiations with the owner of flats in question'.
However, residents raised concerns about Serco incentivising landlords by offering above-market rents, longer contracts, and offers to fully refurbish properties at the end of the contract.
Weaverham resident, Kathleen Astbury, interim secretary of Reform UK’s Weaverham and Cuddington branch, said: "We’re not really talking about asylum seekers here.
"We need to call them what they are.
"These are illegal immigrants, largely men of working age, coming here on small boats.
"They register at the ports, but we have no idea who they are, where they’ve been, or what they’ve done.
"Serco is approaching landlords and offering them good deals, and long contracts.
"This is not fake news. It is well reported in the mainstream media.
"I have lived in Weaverham for 28 years are we’re a close-knit community.
"We have lots of elderly people, young families, single-parents, and three school.
"It is wrong we have no say about this. We have lost control of our communities thanks to these absentee landlords living hundreds of miles away."
Concerns were also raised about 10 homes recently vacated on Lake House Close, just metres from the flats on Northwich Road, and whether these could also be used to house asylum seekers.
Currently empty, most of the previous tenants - 10 households in total - were handed no fault eviction notices in March 2024 when the homes were transferred from one social housing landlord to another.
The reason they were given was their homes had been wrongly allocated to them by the precious landlord, and they did not qualify for them.
Cllr Edwards added: “I have been fighting hard to have these returned to the council’s standard waiting list.
“What happens to them afterwards is my next battle.”
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