YOUNG refugees who have arrived in Torrington from Calais ‘will only be in place for a short period of time’, a meeting heard last week.

Conservative Devon County Councillor for Holsworthy Rural Barry Parsons updated the town council at its November 2 meeting, and expressed his concern for those who are being hosted at a temporary Home Office respite facility for young refugees in Torrington.

Cllr Parsons said the county council has said it ‘will accept some youngsters, like virtually every other authority’, but said the council does not ‘get to hear about some of these things’ from Central Government.

He added: “These youngsters will only be in place for a very short period of time. They will probably be there for two, three, four weeks. What does concern me, there are people who are making comments without necessarily having the information you would need to make those comments. You could hurt some children and I don’t want to see any child hurt.

“Certainly there are people coming for reasons other than we would be happy with, but I think they would be a very small minority. I haven’t been too happy with some of the negative reports I have seen.”