BUDE Welcomes Refugees has been given the support of Bude-Stratton Town Council last week after months of trying to get the town council to recognise the work the group is doing, writes Ryan Cox.

At last month’s full council meeting, members of the Bude Welcomes Refugees group came to ask the council during the public participation section of the agenda, why there were no council representatives at an event they had organised at Rosie’s Kitchen in Bude to raise awareness of the plight of the refugees during the ‘biggest crisis of our generation’ and the good work many charities are doing to help those in need.

The group wanted to know that it had the support of its local council going forward.

The group was told by town mayor Cllr Lea Deely that the town council could not take a stance either way until something official had been passed through from Cornwall Council.

Further to that, as the topic wasn’t an official item on the agenda the council couldn’t discuss it in any detail nor could it say in any official capacity whether or not it supports the work they are doing.

Cllr Peter La Broy did however offer the group some advice outside of the meeting and explained the way to get the item on the next full council agenda, which is what the group did.

Group leader Mary Whibley spoke during the public participation section of last Thursday evening’s full council meeting in the Parkhouse Centre and briefly touched over the work Bude Welcomes Refugees is doing as well as what it is asking of the town council.

She said that the support the group is looking to get from Bude-Stratton Town Council is not financial, nor do they need help in any other direct way, it is simply for the council to say in an official capacity whether or not it supports the principles of what the group is doing.

Once the agenda reached the item later on in the evening, town clerk Donna James was going to give a report about what the group is looking for from the council, but said that there was no need due to the way Mary so eloquently summarised the group’s work already.

Cllr Alan Biggs proposed that Bude-Stratton Town Council support the principles of the group Bude Welcomes Refugees and the work it is doing, and Cllr Deely seconded that. All councillors voted in favour.