A victory parade is being held by campaigners tomorrow after they won their fight to stop asylum seekers being housed in a four-star spa hotel.
The celebration follows months of blockades and protests outside the luxury venue near Llanelli, South Wales, over the controversial proposals highlighted by the Sunday Express.
The Home Office withdrew the plans following reports of “legal difficulties”. The cost to taxpayers is expected to run into millions of pounds.
Locals say protests will continue outside the Stradey Park Hotel because they have no “trust” in the owner to restore it to its original use.
They argue it is now up to Gryphon Leisure Limited to win back the confidence of the community. But they suggest people in the picturesque village of Furnace may still boycott the venue over the “disgusting” way it behaved.
In May it was announced the hotel was to house up to 241 asylum seekers, a move that was also opposed by Carmarthenshire County Council and local MP Dame Nia Griffith.
All 95 staff were “disgracefully” dismissed and people with bookings for events, including weddings, were forced to find last-minute alternatives. Couples have told of the extreme stress it caused them on what was meant to be the happiest day of their lives.
Robert Lloyd, a spokesman for campaign group Furnace Action Committee, said: “Plainly it has cost a lot of money in terms of the contract and the policing effort that has been put in.
“The reason the protesters are still there is basically because there is no trust between campaigners and the hotel owners.
“They have said their intention is to resume activities and get the hotel back up and running.
“What worries the protesters and campaigners like ourselves is that over two weeks have gone by since the announcement, but we have not seen much activity in terms of renovating the hotel back to its former self.” He added there was “a very real possibility” the hotel may now face a boycott. He said he knew of at least one person who had organised a dinner for 300, and when contacted by the hotel for a future booking they told them “sorry, mate, we’re not coming back”.
Mr Lloyd said: “It is a difficult scenario for the owners but we feel the onus is on them to step up to the plate and show that the community can be confident that they won’t consider going down this route ever again.”
The Government recently announced it would no longer be using 50 luxury hotels around the country to house asylum seekers.
Llanelli MP Dame Nia Griffith said: “There had been a number of specific legal difficulties which made it very difficult for the Home Office to actually proceed.
“I can only presume that was the basis of them deciding to abandon the idea.
“They have never given us a proper explanation.
“It demonstrated to us the lack of homework that had been done.”
The shadow minister for the Cabinet Office added: “It just seems if an owner suddenly says ‘I’m up for this’, the Home Office was just jumping at it without doing any due diligence.
“Hopefully they’ll have learnt something from this – it is always better to consult a local community. Indeed they could have gone to the Welsh Government or county council and said ‘Where would be suitable?’ rather than doing a deal with a hotel owner without due diligence being done.
“The community quite frankly, and I include myself in that, are disgusted at the way the hotel owners behaved.
“It certainly does not make people want to have anything to do with them in the future.”
Earlier this month her Labour colleague Lee Waters, a Member of the Senedd, said that he and Dame Nia had “said all along this is the wrong place and the wrong plan”.
