PLANS to back a new working party aimed at rehoming Syrian refugees have been supported by town councillors.

Ringwood councillors Michael Thierry and Christopher Treleaven have been appointed as the town council’s representatives on the Syrian Refugee Working Party following an invitation from Ringwood School.

Students there at the sixth form have been working tirelessly in recent months to find a family home for Syrian refugees and have urged the council to join in their quest.

At a meeting earlier this year, members of the policy and finance committee rejected school girl Elvie Karkera’s plea to house a family as the town council would first have to find a landlord willing to take a financial hit by offering a home at a social rate.

Now, councillors Thierry and Treleaven will assist the students by offering knowledge of local government.

In a report produced by Cllr Treleaven, he said the council’s recent move followed news that a Syrian refugee family had been housed in Pennington.

He had learned that the family had been rehoused on account of the Government Resettling programme and that Lymington and Pennington Town Council had played no part, at the first meeting of the community-based working party group earlier last month (FEB).

“The presentations gave me the opportunity to explain once again that our town council had realised early on that we had no part to play in ‘accepting’ a refugee family, as town and parish councils have no means of discharging such a responsibility,” he said.

“The prime task is to find willing landlords in the private sector – more readily undertaken by the voluntary sector, as has proved to be the case by the guest speakers. The group then said they understood our position but they would have liked a more supportive indication from us than they felt they had received.

“It was suggested to me by a member of the group that our town council might like to have one or two councillor representatives on this working party.

“It would be a way of showing our support for the work of the group.

“On reflection, I think this would be a good idea for us. Not only would it show a willingness to support the resettlement idea, but some of our knowledge of the mechanics of local government might assist the processes involved. There would be no necessary resource commitment of our council but there may be informal ways we could help.”