A MULTI-AGENCY approach has seen Syrian refugees successfully resettled in Dorset.

At a meeting of Dorset County Council’s people and communities overview and scrutiny community councillors discussed the progress Syrian resettlement programme to date.

Following the county council’s agreement to house six to eight Syrian families within a 12 month period, the first two families arrived in the county in December last year.

Addressing the committee Stephanie Farr, lead officer for the programme, said: “We have been working closely with Dorset Councils Partnership, the police, the CCG, Jobcentre plus, and with voluntary partners like the Islamic Centre and Swanage Action for Refugees.

“We provide furnished properties, make sure schools can provide a good welcome for children when they arrive, provide English lessons and integration support for 12 months from a local charity who have experience in the area.”

The programme is fully funded by the government through a per-person tariff of £8,250 for the first year, which tapers off to £1,000 in by the fifth year when humanitarian protection status comes to an end.

Councillors also heard how the programme has been working with the wider community so as residents respond positively and proactively.

Ms Farr said: “We have been working with DCC to tackle hate crime as we were aware needed we need to do some work in Weymouth. We ran a Migrants Welcome event which was very successful. Lots people wrote positive message of welcome, actually there were no negative messages at all.”

Going forward the report put to the committee stated that it needs to expand its housing partners to other districts outside of the Dorset Councils Partnership which has been ‘invaluable’ thus far.

Head of design and development Patrick Myers told councillors: “We should be proud of what has been happening so far. The community have been outstanding around this, even to the point where they are topping up rents because rents in Dorset are very high.

“It is a wonderful example of how well communities in Dorset respond to the crisis”