A visit by the town's mayor and member of parliament to meet the 120 asylum seekers living in a Kenilworth hotel has been blocked due to protest fears.

The asylum seekers and refugees, whom are mainly from Afghanistan, have been housed in the Riverside Hotel since December.

Jeremy Wright and Cllr Peter Jones were due to pay a visit to see local volunteers helping with English language classes but the event was blocked by security firm Serco.

"I was due to accompany the mayor and the member of parliament to meet with the asylum seekers at their weekly English language lessons," said Cllr Richard Dickson at last week's Kenilworth Town Council meeting.

"But for understandable reasons Serco, who provide the supervision, were very nervous about any official visits.

"Apparently they have been caught out by this before and there have been protests. So that visit has not taken place but the member of parliament will still be given a briefing."

Compassionate Kenilworth has launched a community fundraiser to help buy clothes and other supplies for the refugees.

And Cllr Dickson said a number of local residents were also giving up their time to help support the refugees.

"There is a very enthusiastic bunch of around 30 volunteers that are providing English language classes," he said.

"We are also trying to give them some access to public transport so that they can meet up with asylum seekers of their communities in Leamington and Coventry."