FREE Welcomecome ttoo our fifirstrst editionedition of 2020020 With the startt t off a new Issue 240 / Wednesday 8th January 2020 decade, The Looker starts its tenth year of becoming the district’s favourite free newspaper. With an increased circulation and covering a wider district than ever before, 2020 is an exciting time for us, with many new features and ideas going forward, many of which will be events and features that we hope you will get involved with (including some Looker Party Nights). We also have some new members joining our team over the coming weeks and a new-look website, which we hope to have live within the next month. As ever we would like to thank our advertisers, who without them we could not run the paper and remind you that if you have an event to publicise or a business to promote, The Looker is the most cost effective way of getting out to thousands of our readers. So on behalf of all the team at The Looker … We wish you a Happy New Year Devastating fire rips through and happy reading. Folkestone homes IN THIS ISSUE Migrant Crisis continues Shortly after midday on the away from a fourth house, the fire McNeice who live across the road. Page 2 Monday after Christmas, a major could have spread even further. By 4 Having just returned from a trip away Find out about some of the facts and fire broke out in a Victorian house p.m., the fire had taken hold of all they had been shocked to find their figures of the last 12 months on Wear Bay Crescent in three properties with smoke and ashes house also cordoned off. filling the air. The smoke from the fire Hospital gets new Folkestone. It was reported by Many residents living in the road were could be seen even from the Looker lease of life – Page 4 neighbours that the fire had started without power for most of the night office across the bay in Littlestone. Folkestone Victoria Hospital gets in a downstairs fire grate and and did not know when it was likely quickly spread throughout the planning permission to be At the time of reporting, at least two to be back on. By 6 p.m., there were transformed into luxury apartments. house top to bottom, completely elderly residents thought to be from still a number of fire engines on site gutting it inside. the house where the fire started had and it was being suggested that poor The Aliens have landed - Eight fire appliances including a ‘high been taken to the William Harvey water pressure was hampering efforts Pages 6-7 tower’ and emergency services Hospital in Ashford for what was to control the flames which could still Jan Holben takes us on a district arrived on scene quickly and the road described as minor injuries and smoke be seen in the roofs of the buildings. treasure hunt to find alien eggs! was cordoned off by the police with inhalation, but it is believed that they The fire fighters attended the fire Obituary to ‘Local Legend’ have now been released. a warning for local people to stay throughout the night and into the next Page 9 away. morning, with the road still cordoned All residents were safely removed Fred Wood-Brignall - a true Lyddite Fire-fighters, some wearing breathing from the houses by the emergency off to traffic and the public. The remembered apparatus and using compressed air services with many taking refuge in damaged houses were still foam and water jets, were not able to neighbour’s homes across the road. smouldering, with smoke still rising Council’s big plans for the stop the fire quickly spreading to two The owners of one house which was into the air, well into Tuesday morning. next decade – Page 12 adjoining houses and were only a few feet from the flames, had Folkestone and Hythe District Council announce the biggest spending concerned that with flames only feet taken refuge with Kate and Tom continued on Page 3 ambitions in a generation, with 1,100 new council houses and Green agenda Be sure to visit www.thelooker.co.uk for all the latest local news 2020 Migrant crisis continues Since the first ‘reported’ migrants they are at first arrested on immigration were discovered after they hit the offences. Immigration officers will submit beach at Dymchurch nearly three an application on behalf of those years ago, we have got used to the seeking asylum. They will be asked to arrival of the ‘boat people’ as they explain how they were persecuted in are known locally. With a steady their home country and why they are stream of boats arriving on our afraid to go back, and to provide any shores most weeks, it has become evidence supporting their claims. such a common recurrence most Those thought to have legitimate claims days it is just a bi-line on the local for asylum are put into accommodation news. provided by the Home Office while their claims are considered. This can be With over 2,000 interceptions in the last 12 months in both Lorries and boats, many more are expected to slip in detention centre or temporary housing. ‘under the radar’, but with border force Removal can be complicated by legal cutters and French customs working challenges, as many will be vulnerable hand in hand with UK officials, it is and may have suffered abuse or torture. thought that there will be no let up in the It can also be a lengthy process to get coming weeks and months. new identification documents issued by countries of origin. But with bad weather through the winter months making the crossing even more Why don't Calais migrants claim hazardous, gang leaders seem hell bent asylum in France? on getting as many people across the UK politicians have said the migrants in channel as possible, with no regard for Calais should claim asylum in France if the personal safety for the people who either private housing contracted by the Asylum seekers are not allowed to work they need protection. But many give up their life’s savings for the government or temporary in the UK but if their asylum claim takes migrants say their life in France is "no ‘privilege’ of boarding an overcrowded accommodation like hotels. more than a year to be processed, they good", and they hope for better dingy that is not really sea worthy. opportunities in the UK. Under EU rules, Under the Detained Fast Track system, can apply for the right to work. Despite very strong sentencing of a The government aims to process simple asylum seekers should claim asylum in applicants stay in detention centres, also the first safe country they come to. number of gang leaders in the UK called immigration removals centres, claims within six months, but there are courts, it is thought that the business is cases that have lasted years, with legal Electronic fingerprinting means that which are run by HM Prison Service. A many who make it further into Europe will growing in what is a lucrative illegal person can also be detained at any challenges further delaying decisions. business with many migrants now being The Detained Fast Track system plays a end up being sent back to Italy or Greece, point in the asylum process if officials where many first entered the EU. taken within sight of the UK shoreline by believe that their case is straightforward. key role in immigration removals and unscrupulous fishermen and then setting As regular readers of The Looker will Refugee advocacy groups argue that means that some applications are off for the Coastline. know, we have been following this detention can damage the mental processed in 22 days. But the High The Looker gets letters and emails about Court has deemed the system unlawful ongoing story over the past three years. health of those who may have suffered Editor David Wimble said; “The migrants so we asked the question . persecution, rape or torture in their saying that its speed put applicants at a "serious procedural disadvantage". problem is getting worse and despite What happens when asylum seekers home countries. the fact that we are seen as a ‘safe arrive in the country? People awaiting an asylum decision are There were 25,020 asylum applications in the UK in the year up to March 2019, haven’ for these people, the The process for claiming asylum in the given an allowance to live on. As well a 9% increase on the previous year. government need to get the message UK can be a long and complex one. as housing assistance: A single person Asylum or an alternative form of over that not only is there a real risk of Asylum seekers are told to present gets £36.95 per week. A single parent protection was granted in 40% of cases losing your life by making this themselves to authorities "when you with one child gets £73.90. A single - up from 36% the year before. treacherous crossing, but at the end of it arrive in the UK or as soon as you think parent with two children gets £110.85. you could just be deported back to it would be unsafe for you to return to A couple with two children gets What if their application is refused? where you come from. I do not pretend your own country". £147.80. The amounts were recently The government begins the process of to know the answer, other than closer If caught by police illegally in the UK, reduced by the government.