Kenilworth Town Council will ask the district council for more Afghan refugees to be housed in the town, should there be more coming to Warwickshire.

At last week's full council meeting councillors voted in favour of requesting a more active role in supporting refugees in the county.

As well as congratulating the efforts of Warwick District Council already, councillors said Kenilworth could be doing more to help.

Speaking last Thursday Cllr Andrew Milton said: "I know that many of us would have watched with dismay whilst the fragile situation in Afghanistan fell apart so dramatically and so quickly.

"Many will be moved by the desperation of people just trying to leave their homes, in countries they have lived all their lives, just to get to safety.

"The motion is our chance to make a statement, to set the tone and to show some leadership in the town."

WDC has already gone beyond its promise to house 25 Afghan families in the area. There is also a house in Kenilworth already privately supporting refugees.

But the motion, which received unanimous support from the council, is the first step to seeing Kenilworth take a more active role in providing support.

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It said: "Kenilworth Town Council wishes to put on record its willingness that refugees from Afghanistan are re-homed in our town should the district council deem it appropriate.

"We would ensure a warm welcome and look forward to enabling them to make this the place they call home and be part of a community to which they feel able to contribute."

Speaking in support of the motion Cllr James Kennedy added: "This is something that is not going to go away, it is only going to get worse and worse and we need to stand up for what we know is the right thing to do. So I fully support this."

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