A luxury hotel nestled within a Cambridgeshire waterpark, regularly used by young people in the spring and summer and boasting a 1,000-metre rowing centre, has been given over entirely to house male migrants. The decision to house 146 male asylum seekers in the four-star Dragonfly Hotel, which is located in Thorpe Meadows, Peterborough, was made with just 48 hours’ notice.
A bitter row has now ensued, with claims that many women no longer feel comfortable there. Most of the asylum seekers in the hotel are from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and Kuwait. Residents also claim that their protests to the Home Office have been ignored.
The Dragonfly Hotel adjoins a small bay on the picturesque River Nene and has become a favourite spot for local teenagers and young adults in the summer for swimming and sunbathing. It is also adjacent to the 2,500-acre Nene Park, a popular outdoor activities and nature area.
Now, however, residents have revealed that the move to house so many men in the area has left many women and girls feeling they will be forced to abandon using the park as they will now feel uncomfortable and on display.
“I know a lot of young women who are now concerned about doing sports around the River Nene and rowing area because there are a lot of single men sitting around,” Gay Marriot, 82, told MailOnline.
“The worry for me is that you have more than 100 single male asylum seekers who are all unvetted living in an area where there are young girls rowing or exercising in vests and shorts,” she added.
“It wasn’t such an issue in the winter, but it is now.”
While she admitted that she did “genuinely” feel sorry for the asylum seekers, “Now that the warmer weather is here and human nature being such, this could have consequences”.
Colin Webster, 74 a member of the Thorpe Gate Residents Association added: “My fear is that this is a disaster waiting to happen.
“We were not consulted at all about the arrival of these asylum seekers, it literally happened overnight. The hotel suddenly closed, and our MPs and local council, have been useless. Nobody is listening to us about the dangers of this situation.”
The hotel sits near a luxury estate of 32 detached homes that often fetch as much as £1 million. According to MailOnline, the residents were caught by surprise when the asylum seekers were moved into the hotel overnight last November by the Home Office and that they were not consulted on the matter. They claim that their protests to the Home Office, the city council and Serco, the company running the hotel have all been ignored- as has a petition with thousands of signatures.
Not all are against the move, however, Kai Palmer, 23, manager of the Thorpe Meadows Café, said that some of the asylum seekers have visited the business: “They’ve been very polite and not caused any problems.”
While admitting that he understood the local females’ concerns, he added, “Nothing bad has happened yet, so I don’t see the point of focusing on the negatives. The regattas will be very good for business, and from what I know, they are still going ahead.”
The Peterborough City Rowing Club is based at the course where two major regattas are due to take place this summer, attracting participants from all over the country.