HOME Officee Office ministers were warned today by Bolton MP Brian Iddon that asylum seekers flooding into the town are being placed in potentially dangerous properties.

The former borough housing chairman is alarmed that 90 refugees have been put into just 30 homes -- almost all of which are sub-standard.

He fears that because they are not properly registered and checked, the properties may be unsafe.

Rules specify that homes which are not shared by families, where individual rooms are effectively bedsits, must have fire doors between them. There are also fears that lumping together asylum seekers from different countries in cramped conditions is damaging to their dignity.

The Bolton South East MP told immigration minister Barbara Roche: "In the past three months, 90 asylum seekers have been rehoused in 30 properties in Bolton - some of which were in poor condition.

"My main concern is that the environmental health officers have reported to me that this has created houses in multiple occupation that do not conform to the statutory requirements. "I am very concerned. Clearsprings, the Government's agent for privately housing asylum seekers, have appointed an agent in Bolton who appears to be putting several families - often from different countries and speaking different languages - in the same house.

"This is effectively creating houses in multiple occupation. I am concerned that they may not be safe."

The MP's concerns are shared by Bolton council access and advice manager John Lord.

Groups of asylum seekers are currently located in Deane, Daubhill, Great Lever and around Halliwell Road and Blackburn Road and much of their accommodation has been inspected by council environmental health officers. Mr Lord said: "The houses have not been properly adapted to the appropriate health and safety standards. Asylum seekers are a vulnerable group, especially where they do not share a language.

"If there was an emergency they might not be able to communicate together.

"We are very unhappy with the way the private sector dispersal is taking place. As a local authority we would rather do it ourselves."

Bolton council should become the "preferred provider" for housing asylum seekers within the next few days, taking over from the private providers.

Dr Iddon asked Mrs Roche whether an agreement between the Government and a North-west consortium of local councils was likely to be signed soon. "I hope it can be signed as soon as Friday," he said. No one was available for comment today at Essex-based property firm Clearsprings Management Ltd which is involved in bringing asylum seekers into Bolton.