BUCKFASTLEIGH has been declared a ‘refugee-friendly town’.

Town councillors at a full council meeting unanimously voted to help refugees across Europe – by collecting donations and compiling a register of residents to take in individuals and families.

Cllr Andy Stokes said: ‘I know people of this community have big hearts and none of us wants to stand by and helplessly watch these poor people suffer.

‘We have a chance to demonstrate our compassion and do what we can for them, and send a message to our government that we are willing and ready to do our share to help.’

He said with more than nine million Syrians displaced by conflict from their homes, and more than three million on the run from Islamic State in Iraq, plus many thousands of other refugees from war and conflict elsewhere, Europe is facing its worst refugee crisis since the second world war.

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