A West Northamptonshire councillor has voiced his frustration at the police over their response to migrants ‘loitering’ outside a local primary school.
Speaking on GB News, Ian McCord, an Independent councillor for the Deanshanger Ward, claimed officers feel the issue is being ‘whipped up’ by people outside the area.
Locals have raised concerns over the last few months about young men seen near Deanshanger Primary School, which educates children aged 4-11.
McCord said the police response does not stack up with their narrative.
Ian McCord criticised the police response to reports of migrants waiting outside the local school
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“I have absolutely no doubt that many of these allegations are very well sourced from the people I’ve spoken to”, McCord told Patrick Christys.
“But when you take your concerns to the police, they seem to be of the view that this is being whipped up by people who are from outside of the village.
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“They think they’re not local, and there is nothing to see and move along. But at the same time, they’re putting on extra high visibility patrols in and around the village in order to ensure that there is nothing going on that wasn’t going on in the first instance, if you take their drift.”
McCord raised concern about a local hotel housing migrants - saying on GB News the operation should cease.
“It’s been used on and off for about three years for that purpose [housing migrants]”, he said.
“Prior to that, it was also being used by Milton Keynes Council as one of their hotels where they were putting people who were statutory homeless.
Ian McCord joined Patrick Christys on GB News
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“It’s located on the edge of the village, on the road between Milton Keynes and Buckingham. There’s nothing to do really around there, certainly not without a car.
“So yes, people will wander away - Milton Keynes is a city about eight miles down the road.
“It really should be run down and returned to a proper use, so to speak. My view has always been that so long as the local hotel in the issue rubbed along without causing any issues, it could be tolerated, but it would appear that there are now issues beginning to come.”
The school and the migrant hotel are said to sit just 1km apart and separated by an open field.
The school and the hotel are said to sit just 1km apart - and are reportedly separated by an open fieldGB NEWSParents were told to stay “extra vigilant” and that “as an added precaution”, the school will be “keeping children away from the back of the field for the time being”.
Parents told the Telegraph last week that their concerns have led to them temporarily stopping their children going to classes.
Northamptonshire Police said there had been “community rumours” around filming pupils - but they had no confirmation of this.
A statement from the force last month read: "We are aware of the concerns reported by people about alleged suspicious activity in Deanshanger in recent days.
"Having followed all reasonable lines of inquiry for every report, we can confirm that we have not identified any offences, increased risk or safeguarding issues at the present time.
"No one has been identified to or by the force as having committed any offences, and so no one has been questioned. We have had no evidence of any crimes submitted to us, or any verified first-person reports.
"All reports received at present have been assessed to be third-party reports, primarily based on social media posts and not by people who live in the village.
"We have had an enhanced patrol pattern in the Deanshanger area for the last three months in accordance with a number of locally identified policing priorities."
