The authority’s leader Cllr Phil Riley has said he expects some of the personnel and their families to settle in the borough.
Those currently living at the hotel were granted a legal right to remain in the UK after risking their lives supporting UK forces during the 20-year war in the country.
The Tickled Trout at Samlesbury, on the way into Preston from the A677/A59 from Blackburn, has been selected for use by the Ministry of Defence for its Afghan resettlement scheme.
The new residents have been evacuated from Afghanistan after the country fell to the Taliban in August 2021 and have been deemed at risk of their lives for supporting UK and US forces during the 20-year war.
The Tickled Trout hotel (Image: Google) Cllr Riley expressed his view after being quizzed on Blackburn with Darwen’s asylum seeker dispersal scheme with the government at the authority’s full Council Forum on Thursday last week.
Livesey with Pleasington Conservative Cllr Paul Marrow said: “Blackburn has always been a welcoming place for refugees.
“Could you give us an idea of the number of refugees, illegal immigrants and economic migrants that we are currently supporting in the borough, and what numbers are we expecting to support in the next 12 months, because it is quite a hot topic across the country at the moment?”
Audley and Queens Park 4BwD Cllr Salim Sidat asked: “Will the government increase funding and integration support for the local authorities participating in the refugee resettlement and asylum dispersal scheme?”
In response, borough housing boss Cllr Damian Talbot said: “The quota for asylum seekers at any one time in this borough is 0.5 per cent of the population, which is 770.
Councillor Phil Riley (Image: NQ) “We have an allocation of funds from government to support those people.”
Cllr Riley said: “Once people do have leave to stay, then we want to be supportive.
“We want those people to as rapidly as possible start to become good and functioning citizens and, if necessary, learn the skills and all the things that we would want them to do.
“In terms of the dispersal scheme, I am aware that there is going to be a number of Afghan former military personnel arriving in the vicinity very soon.
“I think they are going to be domiciled in the former Tickled Trout, which I think explains why a very large barrier fence has gone up.
“So these are people who, as we all know, were promised, they fought on the side of the British army in Afghanistan.
“They have been let down in very simple terms.
“So that is something that is going to happen, and my guess would be, and it wouldn’t be a great surprise if some of those people ended up seeing themselves here.
“But they will be in the Tickled Trout, I think, for one year.
“All of the refugees in our borough help to make it a stronger, more inclusive and vibrant place to live.”