YOU WRITE

WRAP

"I read with alarm your article on WRAP. We accept far too many immigrants into this country, frankly this is beyond idiocy.” Mr KM Local Resident

Editor’s reply

We are not printing the letter in full as it used language that Wendover News is not comfortable to publish. The letter refers to an article published in the February 2020 print edition of Wendover News to explain why people were fundraising by riding on static bikes outside Budgens on the weekend of Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February.

Statement from WRAP:

In 2016 the Conservative UK Government established the Community Sponsorship programme in response to the escalating civil war in Syria. The government's reasoning for adopting this programme was so that it could welcome vulnerable refugees in a controlled manner, directly from these camps.

Under the scheme, local communities are encouraged to support resettlement of refugee families in their area. Eligible families are refugees - assessed and selected by the UNHCR and UK officials - who have been forced to leave their country for their own safety. The scheme is not open to asylum seekers or those seeking to migrate for economic reasons.

The UK Government provides all official paperwork for the family to reside permanently and work in the UK.

It is the local group that must, for a two-year period, commit to providing housing for the family and to helping them through support and funding raised by the community (via events such as the virtual bike ride, in which hundreds participated) to integrate into life in the UK, arranging English language tuition and supporting them towards employment and self-sufficiency.

The family due to be welcomed by WRAP is currently unable to travel to the UK because the scheme has been paused due to coronavirus. Several other countries in Europe have resumed their programmes.

91 families have been resettled in the UK by local communities under the scheme since it began in 2016.