I SEE that Bolton Council are, once again, having to make massive cuts in services and I gather this will continue next year.

Under the 1999 Asylum and Immigration Act, in order to relieve housing and other social pressures in London and south-east England, there were to be a number of designated dispersal areas.

In 2000 the National Asylum Seekers Support Service was set up and began the process of designating such areas.

The second greatest number of asylum seekers and immigrants were to be deployed to the north-west, mainly to Manchester, Salford, Rochdale and Bolton.

Subsequently, a report published by the Home Office in July 2013, stated that social cohesion has been most adversely affected in asylum dispersal areas, such as Bolton, with the effects being most evident in the fields of health, housing and schools.

The report points out that 73% of new tuberculosis cases and 60% of new HIV cases are found among immigrants, putting great strain on the Health Service. (I don't suppose you will wish to publish this but we have seen headlines in the Bolton paper about the great increase in the number of HIV cases in Bolton).

The point I wish to make is this - why should we in Bolton be having to bear such massive cuts when we were designated an immigrant dispersal area with all the costs that this implies? How can we continue to support increasing numbers with dwindling resources?

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