£10,000 from Oswestry council to help welcome Ukrainian refugees

The town council has agreed to work with Shrewsbury-based group Shropshire Supports Refugees to explore issues around mental health for children who may be separated from their parents when they come to live in the town.

Provision to overcome the language barrier by providing English lessons and amenities to help with living will also be looked at. The council has agreed to provide £10,000 towards the costs of helping.

A motion by Councillor Les Maguire to use the money specifically for addressing mental health issues the children may have, using counsellors already in place in the area, was rejected.

An amendment by Councillor Olly Rose was put forward, where the money would be used in conjunction with the Shrewsbury group to look at what the needs of the specific individuals are and how they could be best helped by them.

Shropshire Supports Refugees, whihc was founded in 2016, has since helped 22 refugee families, and the group became a community interest organisation at the end of last year.

Councillor Rose said: "They have the experience, structure, staff and expertise to assess what the needs are of people who come and live in the community, and each individual will be different so rather than deciding what they need I feel it is better to assess it using help from an established group.

"If we are to take them on ourselves using the counselling service we have available, is the capacity for that plus is the base we have big enough? I think it can probably be used for some purpose around this but think we need a report from the clerk as to how we can get help from the county council and the support group to help us with what will be quite a big task."

Councillor Maguire said it was hoped Europeans from the likes of Poland and Bulgaria already living in the Oswestry community would be able to help with things like the language issue and to help the refugees settle in, and that the hub could be used.