Bibby Stockholm migrant barge made ready to rehouse asylum seekers after legionella outbreak

Work follows a fire inspection which called for five changes to improve safety at the barge moored at Portland Docks, Dorset

Efforts to rehouse hundreds of asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm appear to be ramping up as fire safety improvements were made along with a string of deliveries to the huge vessel this week.

A blue metal footbridge resembling a fire escape was installed while electrical units and other packaged goods were brought on board the three-storey boat berthed at Portland Docks, Dorset.

It’s the clearest sign yet that the boat is close to reopening to up to 500 asylum seekers after the 39 housed last month were evacuated within days. when traces of Legionella bacteria were found in the water system.

Dozens of migrants who boarded the boat had to be removed due to Legionella bacteria (PA)

A spokesperson for the Home Office confirmed the work taking place but would not be drawn on an opening date.

“The health and welfare of asylum seekers remains of the utmost priority, and we are working closely with external partners and Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service to further improve safety measures on the vessel,” they said.

“The Bibby Stockholm successfully completed all fire and safety checks ahead of the first individuals boarding,” the Home Office added. “The vessel completed a statutory inspection and refurbishment before undergoing final preparations to accommodate asylum seekers.”

The new fire escape appears to be in response to a fire inspection by Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service that called for five urgent changes. Details from the inspection report, published by The Guardian, highlighted there were too few fire escapes on board.

The improvements are the latest twist in the government project initially launched to save money on housing asylum seekers. Asylum seekers were brought on board the 93-metre long barge on 7 August - before four days later they were evacuated after traces of Legionella bacteria were discovered.

Workers have been busy on site ahead of expected re-housing (PA)

Accusations followed that the Home Office acted too late as Dorset Council said it informed contractor Corporate Travel Management of the sample test results on the day the asylum seekers boarded.

The ship was then subject to concerns over fire safety. Two weeks after it was emptied, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) sent a “pre-action protocol letter” to Home Secretary Suella Braverman outlining its concerns over safety aboard the vessel.

It emerged that an inspection report by Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service, sent to the Home Office on 10 August, said five changes were needed to be made within a month. They included reinstating an alternative escape route, according to The Guardian report.

And on 8 September, Mayor of Portland Carralyn Parkes launched a legal challenge as a private individual against the Home Office. She says it must declare the use of the barge as a ‘development’ under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 - thereby meaning it needs a planning application.

The barge could end up accommodating hundreds of people (PA Wire)

On the likely imminent return of asylum seekers, the Portland Town Councillor told The Independent she was ‘shocked the Home Office look to continue with this crazy project’. She added: “It has been a disaster from start to finish - it’s supposed to save money but it is clearly doing anything but.

“It is cruel and degrading to treat human beings like this - to open the barge initially before making it safe, and now continuing with this plan to house them in small and overcrowded conditions is simply horrifying.”

The councillor claimed that if a planning application had been submitted for the scheme, issues over fire and water safety could have been explored properly. The Home Office has until October 4 to respond to her legal challenge and a judge will decide if it can progress to a judicial review.

It was in April when the government confirmed plans to house asylum seekers on Bibby Stockholm in a bid to save money on housing the migrants in hotels, which was costing more than £6m a day, the Home Office said. The vessel was among several “alternative sites”, including disused military bases and a former prison.

The scheme is part of one of Rishi Sunak’s priorities to “stop the boats” and clear the UK’s “legacy” asylum backlog by the end of 2023.

Inside local pub The Royal Portland Arms, where owner Jill Diggens and customers Philip and Ellen Zammit think the Bibby Stockholm plan is a bad idea (Alex Ross)

But in Portland, just a few metres from the entrance of the port, resident Charlie McBerney believed there was another motive behind the plan, describing it as a ‘play for votes’ by the Tory party ahead of the next General Election. “It’s sad it’s caused so much aggravation in the local community,” she added.

Up on the island’s high street, local feeling over the scheme was split. Jill Diggens, owner of the Royal Portland Arms, said government efforts should be made on improving the town rather than ‘docking a boat full of asylum seekers on our doorstep’. Peter Gale, 80, said the town had been made a ‘dumping ground for illegal immigrants’. “People are concerned about crime and the impact on local infrastructure - it’s struggling as it is,” he said.

But Elspie Munro-Price, company director at estate & letting agents Red House, said residents on the island were already used to having three prisons and a history of naval and prison ships in its port.

“It’s having no impact on house prices,” she said. “There’s good demand.... I don’t see the issue, and it’s not showing on the housing market.”