Residents, councillors and refugee groups have signed an open letter calling on PD Ports to refuse plans to moor a giant barge housing asylum seekers off the coast of Teesside.

The letter, addressed to CEO of PD Ports Frans Calje and Executive Chairman Jerry Hopkinson was signed on June 20 by residents as well as politicians including Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald.

This response comes after rumours circulated at the start of June stating a boat that can hold 1,000 migrants will be placed on the coast of Middlesbrough, extending the government’s ‘stop the boats’ manifesto pledge.

Read more: Plans to house 1,000 asylum seekers on Middlesbrough barge

Such plans have now been condemned by critics who have called the barge a “floating prison”, stating that asylum seekers should not be housed in barges or ships 

as they call on the executives of the port to refuse any such plans.

The letter reads: “It is imperative that no deal is done to place people seeking asylum in any facility at Teesport. People seeking asylum should be able to live as members of our communities while they wait for a decision on their asylum claim, not warehoused in barges or ships.

“Placing hundreds or thousands of people in a vessel at Teesport would cause significant harm to people fleeing war and persecution.

“Many people may have been forced to make traumatic journeys over sea, and using ships or barges as accommodation risks re-traumatising vulnerable people. The use of similar facilities in other countries have resulted in human rights violations and humanitarian crises.”

Signatories of the letter include the Leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, Andy McDonald MP, the Bishop of Middlesbrough, trade union representatives, and 70 residents from across Teesside.

He added: “I am totally against the principle of housing people seeking asylum in this way – it is something more akin to Victorian times and as a society, we should have a more humane way of treating people while their asylum claims are assessed by the Home Office.”

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Regarding the barges, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously claimed the housing is “fair and compassionate”, but charity leaders from the North East vehemently disagree.

Anna Lewis, CEO of Open Door North East, has said: "We are consistently bewildered by the inhumane lengths the Home Office is prepared to go to in order to distract the public from its own catalogue of failures in asylum policy.

“The housing of hundreds of people in cramped and unsuitable accommodation on the shores of Teesside is cruel, unworkable, and would cause serious harm to people already experiencing significant trauma and suffering."

Following the open letter, PD Ports issued a statement confirming they have not been approached by the government to moor a barge on their site.

A spokesperson said: “To date, PD Ports has not received any communication from the Government about the potential for a barge to be docked at Teesport, either as the operator of our own commercial operations or in our role as Statutory Harbour Authority.

“We cannot see a situation in which public services would be able to provide the appropriate support for such accommodation.

"It simply would not be viable to facilitate any such accommodation to dock at one of our berths, which are in constant operation and have heavily restricted access for health and safety reasons.”