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What legacy will Bibby Stockholm leave as public funding stops?

PA Media A red and grey barge on blue water. PA Media
Preparations are being made to tow the Bibby Stockholm away from Portland Port

After a 18 months, the Bibby Stockholm barge's time in Portland looks to be coming to an end.

The BBC understands the cost of funding the immigrant barge will no longer fall on the taxpayer or the Home Office by the end of the week.

Since July 2023, the barge has been moored at Portland Port in Dorset, and until the end of November, was housing just under 500 men awaiting the outcome of their asylum applications.

In the time it has been on the Dorset coast, the Bibby Stockholm has loomed large over Portland, prompting protests and campaigns.

As the barge is being prepared to be towed away, the BBC looks at the mark it has left on the communities of Weymouth and Portland.

A woman stood in front of an empty shop on a high street. She has grey hair with a purple streak and is wearing a black coat with a fur hood and a red scarf.
Jenny Lennon-Wood is part of the South Dorset Research Group

Introduced in April 2023, the vessel was intended to be a temporary home under Home Office plans to ease the pressure on the asylum system.

The seaside resort and neighbouring peninsula were already said to be stuck in a vicious cycle of "poor job prospects and low earnings" before the Bibby Stockholm arrived.

This was one of the findings of a report by the South Dorset Research Group.

Co-author Jenny Lennon-Wood said people in the area felt no-one was "concerned for their wellbeing" and were not " being given the opportunities they should be".

"[Another issue] has also been a decline in public services, particularly health, so when the Bibby Stockholm was announced local people were very troubled by the idea that there might be a 500 increase on Portland where they were already fighting to save their hospital," she said.

For those it affected the most, she said it did it lead to demonstrations which attracted members of the far right.

"It wasn't a very big group of people, most people were at least neutral, but many people were prepared to be supportive of the refugees," she added.

A woman with purple hair wearing glasses and a a black denim jacket with badges on. She is sat in front of a transgender and LGBTQI+ flag.
As a trans woman, Natasha Wilding, says she understands the men feeling alone and isolated

Natasha Wilding supported the asylum seekers in an LGBTQI+ social group that was set up for some of the men living on board.

"As a trans woman I understand and can empathise how it feels to be part of a marginalised community," she told the BBC.

"I can't feel how they feel about being persecuted in their countries, about knowing that they are living under the threat of death if they live their authentic selves where they are."

She got involved in the group which was funded by local arts organisation B-Side.

"I have lived on the island for 51 years and I have never seen any kind of LGBT community on the island as such, I've seen individuals but I have not seen a community group come together," she said.

Every week they do something social, like watching a film or having talks by local companies, and despite the asylum seekers having left the barge, she said the group has carried on.

"It's become such a haven for the local community and without the Bibby Stockholm coming here in the first place, with the migrants who were fleeing because of their gender identity or sexual orientation, then this club would never have been formed," she added.

A blonde woman looks at the camera in a dark blue hooded top. A sewing machine can be seen in the background.
Kirsty Garbett lives and owns a business on Portland

Business owner Kirsty Garbett, who has lived on Portland for 15 years, was concerned about the barge when it first arrived.

"I wasn't very keen about it like most residents on the island. Mainly I've got twin girls and they were 14 when the barge came.

"Then I was slightly concerned of the aspect of having lots of men from different religions being in the area obviously and just the lack of facilities for the locals as it is let alone having 500 extra people on the island."

She also said poor communication from the government left people worried about what would happen when the asylum seekers arrived.

But in the end, she admitted it "didn't actually turn out to be as bad as what people thought it was going to be".

"You didn't really see them that much. They did get their own buses and so there was a lot of them going to Weymouth. They had their own facilities down there."

There is no date for when the Bibby Stockholm will leave.

Bibby Marine, which owns the vessel, said the contract with the management company CTM will end on Friday.

It is not clear where it will go next and what it will be used for.

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