COUNCILLORS are set to be asked to continue a Poole council pledge to accept dozens of refugee children over the next decade.

Next week, BCP council will consider a motion to support the Safe Passage initiative and take in “at least” three youngsters a year to mark the 80th anniversary of the Kinder Transport.

Nineteen councillors in the coalition administration have already given their support to the move while Conservative group leader has said they will also back it, according to papers published ahead of the full council meeting on Tuesday.

The same motion was supported by Poole council in November after being put forward by Lib Dem councillor Mike Brooke.

He had led calls at the height of the Syrian civil war in 2015 for support to be given to 10 refugee families each year.

Having been seconded by Cllr Sandra Moore, his new motion will ask the new council to continue the Poole council pledge.

“The threat to children fleeing war and oppression is now at the highest level it has been in the last 70 years,” it says.

“We are witnessing the biggest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War with over 70 million people displaced by war, persecution and conflict.”

The motion will ask the council to accept “a minimum of just three unaccompanied or vulnerable children each year for the next 10 years”.

It has been inspired by the Lord Alf Dubs fund work overseen by Safe Passage to mark the 80th anniversary of the arrival of 10,000 children rescued shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

The motion adds: “These children would arrive by a safe and legal route, not as spontaneous arrivals having taken immense risks in flimsy dinghies, or under or inside lorries.

“Furthermore, their care would be ensured through a fully government-funded scheme and therefore neither deplete already stretched council funds, nor be an ongoing burden on local taxation.”

Figures published last year showed Poole was caring for 24 children – double the number for Bournemouth.