BRADFORD Council has so far helped house four Afghan refugee families in the city and district since many were forced to flee the country which was taken over by the Taliban in August.

The Government was in discussion with local authorities across the country at the start of September about resettling thousands of Afghans who had worked with the British forces in their country and then fled when the new regime took control.

There have been 15,000 evacuated from Afghanistan to the UK since August 13 this year, according to the Local Government Association.

It has been a complex process trying to house the new refugees and the Government wanted a fair distribution of resettling across the UK.

But the BBC reported at the start of September that many local authorities no longer own any houses, while others felt it would be unfair to offer places to Afghans ahead of local people who are on the housing waiting list.

Bradford Council confirmed it has housed four Afghan refugee families so far.

It comes after the issue was raised during the most recent Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee  meeting, on Tuesday, September 28.

During the topic of Homelessness, Councillor Riaz Ahmed (Lib Dem and Ind, Bradford Moor) asked the number of Afghani refugee arrivals in Bradford and what the council was doing to help and/or house them.

The initial response was that the council was still in discussion with the Government and that the level of funding had not quite been finalised.

Jason Longhurst, Strategic Director for Place, then added he was reluctant to give numbers at that point.

But a separate officer then outlined that the council had, at that point, helped two families, of eight individuals and explained it would be taking a couple more families shortly afterwards.

The Management of Migration is expected to discussed in more detail at the Regeneration and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting in January next year.