Tour of controversial Bibby Stockholm docked off Dorset

Life on the migrant barge: Tour of controversial Bibby Stockholm docked in Dorset port reveals what life will be like – from fully-equipped gym to TV and games rooms

• Fifty will arrive onboard initially before number steadily increase to about 500 

Welcome to the good life – on sea. Migrants staying on the Home Office’s new floating hotel will be given a taste of British life including tending to allotments, guided hikes in the Dorset countryside, cycling and cricket.

The asylum seekers will also get free busses and taxis to enjoy the local town and organised ‘cultural events’.

And on board the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge, there is free canteen food around the clock, TV rooms, a gym and 222 en-suite bedrooms.

Soon, some 500 adult male migrants will be calling this hulking great ‘floatel’ their temporary home – and today/yesterday the Mail was given a guided tour.

The three-storey Bibby Stockholm is the Home Office’s solution to its rocketing £6million-a-day hotels bill for new arrivals. The enormous barge, the length of a football pitch, is docked in Portland harbour on Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, having been towed into place by tugboats on Tuesday, and into a storm of controversy.

Vociferous placard-waving Portland locals are united in not wanting it, but are bitterly divided into two warring groups. One half fears the consequences of having 500 men roaming their seaside town, and the other half shouting them down are ‘anti racists’ who effectively seem to be protesting that the barge isn’t luxurious enough.

Today as the two groups raised merry hell on the quayside, the Mail was among a group of journalists welcomed aboard to see for ourselves. The Home Office’s tour of the three-storey floating hotel was laid on as final touches were being made for the first guests – or ‘service users’ as they call them – to arrive next week.

A view of inside one of the bedrooms onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge

The canteen area on board the barge, which will house up to 500 asylum seekers

The arrival of the vessel into Portland port in Dorset on Tuesday morning was met with protest

A view of inside the gym onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge

Migrants are not locked up and are free to come and go, but once up the gangplank they will have to pass through an airport-style metal detector and put any bags through an x-ray machine.

Our tour guide from the company running the barge explained this was to give everyone on board peace of mind.

Many of the migrants have come from war-torn countries, she said, adding that it had been agreed not to hold fire drills in case it ‘upset’ anyone with a traumatic past.

The migrants will mainly sleep two to a room, in single bunkbeds, and each 12ft by 12ft en-suite bedroom has a wardrobe, a desk and a television – although the TV has a British plug but the electrical sockets are all EU ones. And the aerial isn’t connected ‘to encourage socialising’.

This barge will not win any interior design awards but it does live up to the Home Office description of being ‘basic and functional’. Over its three levels, there are five lounges including two TV rooms, a laundry and a gym with two running machines, some weights and a music system. 

On the laundry room, a sign warns: ‘We don’t wash shoes.’ Another sign tells guests ‘No littering – risk of penalty’. Asked what the penalties were, our host shrugged.

Migrants are given ‘points’ which can be redeemed in a so-called ‘dignity shop’, which is apparently going to be stocked with donated clothes and ‘food treats’. Their points will be topped up ‘periodically’.

The TV rooms have cream leather sofas and wooden tables, and our host said they were planning to order some board games. Such as? ‘Er, I don’t know, we could do with some suggestions’. Chess and Monopoly seemed to be the winners.

Those on board the controversial barge can sit back and watch television on comfy seats

The barge also features a classroom, where a range of lessons will be provided

The bedrooms on board contain a wardrobe as well as a small desk, chair and television

A view of the courtyard where fitness equipment will be installed for the asylum seekers to use

The barge also offers a multifaith room for hundreds of asylum seekers to use on board

A range of meals will be served from the barge’s newly-refurbished canteen

A view of the doctor’s room onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge

Food is available 24 hours a day, and the cross-Channel ferry-style canteen serves breakfast and a three-course lunch and dinner. 

Breakfast choices include eggs, pancakes, bread and yoghurts, lunch options include potato soup, garlic chicken, Irish stew, and roast turkey with rice, and some of the dinners are paella, fried fish and oriental chicken. There are bottles of Ribena and Heinz tomato ketchup.

READ MORE: Labour councils sink plans to tackle Channel small boats crisis by housing migrants on two giant cruise ships

In the middle of the barge are two rather bleak outdoor recreational areas, each about 80ft by 30ft, where there are some vague plans to host ‘basketball, netball and volleyball’ matches.

There is a classroom for English language lessons, a computer room with free WiFi and a medical room with a nurse, and a GP on call.

But despite the facilities, it is clear that 500 grown men are not going to stay cooped up on this barge, for months on end, waiting for their asylum applications to be resolved.

And they are free to explore the historic area. That has caused a great of anxiety among some of the 13,000 people who live on the isle of Portland. ‘Five hundred men wandering around is not a good idea in anyone’s book,’ one local mother told the Mail. 

She was immediately drowned out by a member of Stand Up To Racism Dorset who said: ‘Refugees are welcome. But the barge is inhumane and inadequately resourced’. 

At an earlier protest on the same spot, one there was uproar when someone yelled: ‘You deserve to be raped.’

The migrants will be given an ‘induction’ to help them understand ‘what is expected in the community’. It is understood instructions on being ‘a good neighbour’ will include advice not to crowd together in large groups, not to carry weapons and to not play in children’s playgrounds, and definitely not all at once.

Free busses every hour from 7am to 11pm will ferry men to the nearby seaside resort of Weymouth, with its beach, fishing boat fleet and marina. And if they miss the 11pm bus back to the barge? 

A room for residents to watch television onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge

The bedrooms onboard the Bibby Stockholm come complete with towels and blankets

A view of the security check area on the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge

Protesters outside the entrance to Portland Port in Dorset, where the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge is moored up

A range of fitness equipment will soon be installed on the barge’s courtyard

A view of the galley area onboard the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge

Dorset Council is receiving £3,500 per occupied bedspace on the Bibby Stockholm, with additional funding provided to the local NHS and police, the Home Office said

Free taxis are available by phoning a special number. On top of free food, accommodation and transport, each migrant is given £9.58 a week pocket money.

And to keep them out of trouble, a host of ‘cultural’ activities are on offer from the local council, including ‘guided hikes, cycling, cricket and the chance to use allotments’ along with ‘community events’.

The Bibby Stockholm is moored at the spot where a prison ship once bobbed. 

On the quayside today, Leanne Palk, the Home Office official in charge of operations at the barge, said: ‘The vessel is in good clean condition, although basic. I wouldn’t have said it was a luxurious facility, but it meets what we require in terms of adequacy. It is not a floating prison. It is open, it is light, it is airy.’

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