Knowsley will welcome another 30 refugees from the Middle East and North Africa over the coming year in response to a call for councils to increase spaces for those fleeing conflict.
Most of the new refugees are expected to be families from Syria, which has experienced nearly a decade of civil war.
The borough is already home to around 100 refugees, mostly from Syria, who the council said have been welcomed with “extraordinary acts of kindness”.
At a Knowsley Council cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Cllr Margaret Harvey said: “In welcoming refugees into their communities, Knowsley people have gone over and above what you would expect of them.
“It makes you very, very proud to be a member of this Knowsley community.”
Fellow cabinet member Cllr Sean Donnelly added: “The conflicts are atrocious and the more that we can do to help people the better.”
Outlining the increase in the council’s commitment, Cllr Harvey said many of the refugees already settled in Knowsley had been professionals and businesspeople before they had been forced to flee their homes and were an asset to the borough.
She added that Home Office funding for refugee resettlement meant the scheme would not cost the council anything.
Summing up, council leader Cllr Graham Morgan said: “Everybody has gone the extra mile and I really do look forward to the next families that will come into the borough and be an asset to us.”
