THE Home Office’s retreat of its plans to use a hotel to accommodate refugees in Wales was called “enormously problematic” by anti-racist campaigners today.

The Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli was due to house up to 241 people — a move that was opposed by the Carmarthenshire County Council and saw protests by far-right groups.

The council wrote to the Home Office last week, urging the government to withdraw its plans and said it was concerned about community tensions following an arson attack on the hotel and protests.

It said today that the Home Office sent the council written confirmation that the plan has been scrapped.

Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) warned that the backtrack “sets a precedent and will bolster the far right.”

Co-convener Weyman Bennett said: “It is paramount that we say that refugees should be welcome in Llanelli and any other community.

“Those fleeing war and disaster are not the problem — the problem is a government that is starving our communities of resources and then attempting to blame the most vulnerable for the problem.”

One Llanelli resident said: “Unfortunately, on this occasion, due to the infiltration of the far right such as the Voice of Wales, my town has become a hub of racism.

“Dyfed Powys police have failed us.

“They failed to police effectively and failed to crack down on this abhorrent behaviour, failing to make arrests until very recently, and making the decision to not issue a dispersal order.

“Unfortunately, Llanelli will go down in history as a town where many residents would rather a building stand empty, or be burned to the ground, rather than house vulnerable families.”