News that 300 single male asylum seekers would be accommodated at Cameron Barracks sent shockwaves throughout the city and further afield.
Few other stories had the same response from the public in Inverness in the past 12 months as the announcement by the UK government would house asylum seekers in the city.
News that 300 single male asylum seekers would be accommodated at Cameron Barracks sent shockwaves throughout the city and further afield.
The first people were due to arrive at the end of November or the start of December but that was delayed, apparently until this month but doubts continue to emerge.
For the first time, Inverness saw pro and anti-asylum seeker demonstrations and a range of opinions on the Home Office plan.
Highland Council was most forthright in its objections, followed by the Scottish Government – Police Scotland and NHS Highland were more circumspect.
What came through most clearly is that the Home Office was either all at sea with its own proposal or it simply was indifferent to the effect its plan had in the Highlands.
MSPs and MPs could scarcely believe how the Home Office was behaving: it was very secretive and it did not consult despite the protestations of Labour politicians.
It did not consult in any reasonable way and even after agreeing to work with the council on communications, the council still learnt of developments in the press.
Eventually a briefing was released and the local authority – in an unusual move – chose to spill at least some of its beans, in part to escape public anger.
But that anger was shared by those inside the local authority which went further than it normally does in being open with the public.
The result? We still cannot be certain that asylum seekers will arrive, we don’t know who will manage the site, and we don’t have any clear idea about services for them.
The last point is important because almost every winter NHS Highland comes under pressure to the point where it struggles to deal with the number of patients.
The police often struggle to meet shift requirements in what is an already pressurised profession and the council does not have the funding to divert resources.
Yet this is what the Home Office still appears willing to force on the Highlands – and that is before you get to whether it is even appropriate to accommodate people seeking asylum in a military barracks.
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