Elsie Blundell challenges ‘unacceptable’ asylum housing site across from Heywood nursery

Wednesday, 20 August 2025 15:05

By David Murphy

Heywood and Middleton North MP Elsie Blundell has urged Serco to urgently rethink their decision to house single male asylum seekers in a central Heywood property located directly opposite a nursery.

Blundell said she was “shocked” after meeting nursery staff and hearing their concerns about the safety of children and employees, who she said had been forced to invest in extra security measures.

“Following an incident involving the police, I think it is reasonable to reconsider this location for housing single males within our asylum system,” she said. “In fact, I don’t think it was a sensible location in the first place. With two community organisations and a nursery across the road, it should have been obvious that this location wasn’t suitable.”

The MP added that the situation was “simply not an acceptable one for the business and families using the facility” and condemned the “utterly unacceptable and juvenile display of vandalism” targeting the house in recent weeks.

She stressed that her intervention was not a rejection of asylum support but a challenge to how placements are handled locally. “Some asylum seekers come here for legitimate reasons, to escape persecution, repression and political violence. But there are serious decisions to be made about where to house them while their applications are considered,and in this instance, I don’t think the right one has been made.”

Blundell also linked the issue to what she described as “15 years of appalling failure by the previous government”, arguing that national reforms were now addressing the backlog of cases and reducing the use of hotels. “Change will come and we will deliver the secure borders that communities deserve,” she said.

The MP confirmed she will represent the nursery’s “legitimate concerns” directly with Serco and demand a change of location for the HMO.