Furnace Action Committee on standby with £10K ‘fighting fund’ for Stradey Park Hotel

Last year, protesters set up a makeshift tented camp outside Stradey Park Hotel to demonstrate against the decision by the owners of Stradey Park Hotel, Carmarthenshire County Council and the Home Office to house asylum seekers in the hotel.

Locals formed an Action Committee and within a short space of time there were divisions between those who remained at the site and those who fought a battle online and via a political process. Claims of an influence and presence of a far right group were made and counter claims that the Action Committee had squirrelled the funds away were also made.

The decision by the Home Office and Hotel Owners to accommodate Asylum Seekers at the hotel was devisive and drew some support from left wing campaigners who also added to the noise in the town. The same protests were made in other parts of the country where asylum seekers were being housed culminating in riots in the summer of this year. The vandalising of the office of the local MS and MP for Llanelli and the setting alight of the hotel may have been an early sign of things to come.

Following  months of tension between protesters at Stradey Park Hotel, where numerous arrests were made, some yet to conclude via court action, some dismissed, the police and the security teams left the hotel  after the decision was made to scrap the plans to house asylum seekers there. As quickly as the camp was set up it disappeared but the noise continued online. One key member of the FAC, Robert Lloyd was targeted and faced verbal abuse online and in person with claims that the FAC had mismanaged the funds a claim Mr Lloyd strongly denied. Spokesperson for the far right group Voice of Wales Stan Robinson has continuously asked where the £10,000 fund was and called for it to be released to help those who were arrested, faced court appearances and in some cases lost their income.

Following several months of quiet refurbishment by the hotel management and contractors, the owners announced that the hotel would be re-opened as a hotel venue. The Hotel re-opened in June and was met with mixed reactions with some saying they were happy to see the hotel being restored to its former use and some saying that it should be permanently closed and that the owners should not be trusted given recent events. In essence a campaign to save an hotel objected to it being saved and open again, albeit by the same company.

Now it has been revealed that the action committee (FAC) that was formed in the wake of the decision to house asylum seekers at the hotel are effectively on standby with a sizeable ‘fighting fund’ of £10,000 should there be any hint of further long-term plans for the future of the hotel.

A spokesperson for the FAC said: “We have retained a fighting fund of more than £10,000 should any further legal action be required to save our hotel and the jobs and economic boost it provides for the area.

“The action committee is continuing its work on behalf of the community, regularly monitoring activities at the Stradey Park Hotel. Vigilance remains the watchword for the committee as we continue to look for signs the hotel owners remain committed to returning the hotel to spring 2023 levels of activity.

“With that in mind, we invite the hotel owners, Sterling Woodrow/Perennial Hotels and their investors, to share more information about their plans. The FAC members would like to draw a line under the whole sorry saga and see normal service resumed at the Stradey Park Hotel as quickly as possible.

“Vigilance has been the watchword for the committee – members do not want to see any back-sliding from owners Sterling Woodrow/Perennial Hotels and their investors. FAC members want clear evidence of their commitment to the future of the hotel.”

“As we have previously explained, that money sits securely in a bank account. The funds have three signatories – three very reputable local people who watch over the money. To clarify, the GoFundMe page, which provided the bulk of the fighting fund, raised £10.248.38. We also received other independent donations to the fighting fund.”

The FAC statement added: “The Furnace Action Committee (FAC) has always been non-political and the 19 members of the committee (all drawn from the local community) have no desire to make any political capital out of the saga.

“The FAC members would like to draw a line under the whole sorry saga and see normal service resumed at the Stradey Park Hotel as quickly as possible.”

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