Highland Council to remove flags flown near asylum seeker barracks

Highland Council says flags will be removed from lampposts near an Inverness army base the Home Office plans to use as accommodation for asylum seekers.

A Union flag and a Saltire have appeared on the city’s Old Perth Road.

Highland Council said it had a “zero tolerance” approach to unauthorised signs, stickers and banners on its lampposts.

The UK government has proposed temporarily housing about 300 men in phases at Cameron Barracks, near Inverness city centre.

Highland Council said it had been notified of a flag.

A spokesperson said: “We have a zero-tolerance approach to any unauthorised attachments to our lighting columns be it signs, stickers, banners or anything else.

“We will arrange for the removal of this flag.”

Union and Saltire flags have been erected at locations across Scotland in recent weeks, and this has been linked to anti-immigration sentiment.

Aberdeen, Peterhead and Falkirk are among the places where flags have been flown.

On Wednesday, a UK government minister said he recognised the “strength of feeling” about the plans to use Cameron Barracks, a 140-year-old former recruiting base.

It is to provide accommodation for 309 men from next month, according to Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald.

He has challenged Minister of State at the Home Office Alex Norris on the suitability of the site near Inverness city centre.

Norris said any impact on communities would be “minimised” and the security of people living in surrounding areas was “paramount”.

He told MPs that the military sites were among a number of options being looked at to end the use of asylum hotels.

Later in the Scottish Parliament, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville criticised the decision-making and lack of communication from the UK government.

She said she first heard of the plans in September and wrote to the Home Office with concerns at that time but did not receive a reply.

“I have been clear with the Home Office that these plans must fully consider the impact on the local community, and the appropriateness of the site to accommodate this group of people,” she said.

Somerville said the Scottish government had sought assurances that the barracks would have capacity to meet the asylum seekers’ needs.

She said Scotland had welcomed refugees and asylum seekers and urged the UK government to collaborate with Scottish authorities on the proposals.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar warned against people responding to the plans with fear.

He said: “We have to be very, very careful that we are not magnifying a message that too many on the far-right want to portray every single person waiting for a decision by the Home Office as somehow a threat to our communities and our society.”

He defended the Home Office decision to use the barracks as the consequence of a “broken” asylum system.

Highlands and Islands Conservative MSP Edward Mountain said his constituents were concerned about additional pressures on health services.

Senior Highland councillors, the Scottish government and local politicians have raised concerns about the suitability of the barracks, and refugee charity Care4Calais has also condemned the plan.