A Kenilworth councillor continues to urge Warwickshire County Council to give free bus passes to the 120 asylum seekers living in a Kenilworth hotel.

The Riverside Hotel has been housing refugees and asylum seekers from Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq since December 2021.

But with the residents unable to work and given only a small amount of money to live on - which is mostly used up if they catch the bus to Leamington Spa of Kenilworth - councillors said there is little they can do to keep occupied.

And speaking at the last Kenilworth Town Council meeting, Cllr Richard Dickson said he continues to try to persuade WCC to change its policy.

He said: "We continue to battle with WCC about getting access to free bus services for refugees living at the Riverside Hotel.

"It is a nightmare for them to get anywhere without them having to pay for the bus services. 

"The situation is different in Coventry where they do have access to a free bus service."

But a WCC spokesperson said to Nub News: "We do not generally provide travel or bus passes unless there are emergencies or very exceptional circumstances as a one-off."

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This is not the first time WCC has come under fire from the town council for its support of the asylum seekers living locally.

In June Cllr Alix Dearing criticised how long it was taking for the county council to make any decisions and increase its support.

"I would just like to say that I do know of volunteers who are very happy to help. And I would urge the county council, or whomever can actually affect something to actually happen rather than just talking about it, to actually use these volunteers to get something going very, very quickly," she said.

"I think it is very important, and we can get mired in words and parallel universes without things actually happening, and they need to happen. 

"The people are there to do it, you just need to get someone to sort out the legalities of it, I think it is as simple as that. 

"Hopefully, the county and their representatives will be able to get that to happen."