We are working with researchers from Aston University, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, on a research project about the changing nature of asylum accommodation.

The project is titled “The Peripheralisation of Asylum Accommodation” and explores how asylum accommodation is changing in the UK after the recent Labour government’s commitment to discontinue the use of asylum hotels by 2029. The website for the project is here.

This research project aims to trace the evolution of new asylum accommodation policy, especially focusing on how these spaces are regulated, managed and negotiated, and also how they affect the people living there and their support networks, including local councils.

The researchers are looking to speak to councillors with knowledge and experience of the following forms of asylum accommodation, especially from the following areas:

• Closures of asylum hotels (London)

• Closures of asylum hotels (Birmingham)

• Use of former army barracks (Wethersfield and/or Crowborough)

• The Bibby Stockholm barge (Weymouth/Dorset)

Contact them below if you would like to speak to them about this.

If you agree to participate, they will do one interview about your thoughts and opinion on asylum accommodation policy debates in England, and the UK more widely. It will last between 30 minutes and one hour and will be either face-to-face or online.

You can find out full details of the project and potential interview process more via the Interview Participant Information sheet below.