The flow of refugees into Southend is to be halted following concern about the effect it is having on the town, it was revealed today.

The newly-formed Eastern Region Consortium - which deals with asylum seekers for Essex, Kent and Suffolk - is writing to all London boroughs this week demanding they stop dumping refugees in the town because it is full.

While the request to stop sending people to Southend is not legally enforceable, the boroughs are expected to comply and make other plans for housing new refugee arrivals.

Robin Rennie, manager of the consortium, said: "The boroughs will be asked not to place any more people in Southend because all the reports and discussions about the situation in the town suggest it needs breathing space.

"It has reached a point where it is not conducive to the health of the Southend community to place any more asylum seekers there.

"Southend has a lot of issues generated by the needs of asylum seekers placed there. The area has clearly been imposed upon by other authorities."

Mr Rennie confirmed that letters had been written to every London borough warning them not to send any more refugees to Southend.

He said: "If Southend does not get protected from overload, the town may not offer the same degree of co-operation in the future.

"It needs breathing space until a further assessment is made. I pay full tribute to all the agencies in Southend for the support they have offered to asylum seekers over the years.

"Southend has been a very generous community but it is not fair to overload it."

From April 1, the consortium will take over responsibility for asylum seekers in Southend. Refugees will be registered and then sent to a Home Office centre in Croydon.

From there, if immigration officers decide they have a case to stay in the country, refugees will be placed where there is room for them in the eastern region. Many towns have so far accommodated far fewer refugees than Southend.

Southend's director of social services, Jane Held, said: "This is a very helpful move and we are pleased the consortium is working positively with us. We are clearly experiencing difficulties absorbing any more asylum seekers.

"At a recent meeting, I brought Mr Rennie up to date with the situation and said we had concerns about increasing misunderstandings about the asylum seeker situation in the town.

"We still do not know the current numbers of refugees in the town because London boroughs do not tell us who they put here, despite a ruling on December 6 that they should do so.

"An enormous amount of time is spent arguing with London boroughs when asylum seekers come to us for help as we are not entitled to give them any. "

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