End in sight for Peterborough's Dragonfly Hotel as a home for asylum seekers with government's 2029 pledge

The announcement is set to have a significant impact on Peterborough with both the Great Northern and Dragonfly hotels used to house asylum seekers in recent years.

The historic Great Northern Hotel was used to house around 80 asylum seekers between November 2022 before it was stood down in October 2023.

Then in November 2024, the city was informed that around 146 asylum seekers would be moved into the Dragonfly Hotel at Thorpe Meadows with the hotel remaining in use for such purpose for an unspecified period of time.

Both Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes, North West Cambridgeshire MP Sam Carling along with Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Combined Authority Mayor Paul Bristow have urged the government to stand down the hotel.

In her Spending Review, announced on Wednesday (June 11), Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that the use of hotels for asylum seekers would be brought to an end in the current parliament i.e. by the end of 2029. This is expected to create a saving of £1 billion pounds.

The use of hotels is to be phased out with a £200m pledge to cut the backlog as well as building new government-owned accommodation for asylum seekers.

The news has been welcomed by North West Cambridgeshire Sam Carling but Mayor Bristow has called for the government to go further and end the use of the hotel as soon as possible.

Mr Carling said: “I welcome this renewed commitment to end the use of hotels for asylum accommodation - it’s what Labour has long called for, and it’s excellent news that the Labour Government is stepping up resources and putting even more emphasis making progress here, having already made significant improvements to the rate of asylum case processing to slash the backlog we inherited. We need a fair, properly managed system that treats people with dignity.

“I’ve consistently raised local concerns about the Dragonfly with ministers, and I’m continuing to work closely with the council and others to push for the Dragonfly to be stood down as soon as possible.”

Mr Bristow, who campaigned for almost a year to get the Great Northern stood down while he was Peterborough MP, said: “If the best the Chancellor can do is stand down the Dragonfly by 2029 then that is not good enough. This hotel is the wrong location for the young men themselves and is certainly unsuitable for a migrant hostel.

"Local people will not be reassured by another four years of this intolerable situation. I will be writing to the Home Secretary, telling her to stand down the Dragonfly, just like I did with the Great Northern Hotel.”