Rutland County Council preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees

Members of the community have been donating supplies to send to the border

Author: Ellis MaddisonPublished 17th Mar 2022

Plans are being put in place to make sure any Ukrainian refugees that arrive in Rutland will be well looked out for.

Rutland County Council say more information is still needed on how local councils can play their part in accommodating refugees, but the right steps are being taken in the meantime.

"They'll need support around health, education, access to services, so we will do what we can working with the voluntary sector and local communities", Council Leader Oliver Hemsley said.

"We will step up to whatever's asked, but we're not quite sure what the direct ask will be of councils... obviously, everyone wants to try and do their bit where they can."

Mr Hemsley says there's plenty of people in Rutland interested in providing rooms for refugees:

"We have already reached out to our voluntary sector and we're working with those to work out what the capacity is, what they can offer and how much we can do.

"We're also working with the local councils, East Midlands council, the local resilience forum to establish a joined up approach in response to the 'Homes for Ukraine' programme."

The Government's "Homes for Ukraine" scheme has already seen over 120,000 individuals and organisations register their interest in taking in Ukrainian refugees.

The website where people could apply to put their rooms on offer crashed on Monday due to the amount of traffic.

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Greatest Hits Radio app.