I visited the 'Migrant Street' in Stoke Heath. What I saw was sinister

Migrant Street.

Perhaps you are imagining a bustling inner city street?

Or a busy suburb of a major city?

Try instead a sleepy, leafy hamlet surrounded by endless fields and wandering cows.

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Believe it or not, this is Stoke Heath in Shropshire, where a new housing development has been dubbed "Migrant Street" by the national media and furious locals.

The new-build estate sits on the edge of the small hamlet.

It is a cluster of modern, attractive homes worth up to £250,000 each, with neat gardens and fresh paint, all ready for new families, hard-working taxpayers and a future generation to reinvigorate the area.

Well, that is what residents were told.

The stark reality is those sensible plans shifted into something more sinister without a single consultation, without a word uttered to local residents, not even their local MP, who found out only a few days ago himself.

Now that housing development will play host to so-called asylum seekers, up to 83 people across 21 properties, essentially consuming the entire extended estate.

Walking the quiet streets, the tension was unmistakable.

Union flags and St George's crosses flew from countless homes.

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To me, they seemed like acts of defiance against a Labour Government locals told me looks down on their community.

Safety was the biggest concern.

The new development sits adjacent to a children’s playground, a small park with slides and swings that local kids even helped build.

Now it is overgrown and empty.

Parents have told their children to stay away in preparation for what might come.

Many residents said they have started locking their front doors for the first time.

Another question arose when residents rightfully pointed out that there isn’t a single shop or, indeed, bus for miles. "What are they all going to do?” one resident proclaimed.

Good question.

The overarching warning from residents was all too clear: this might be coming to a street near you.

This all felt strikingly familiar to me: it mirrored the outrage I heard in Astley, Wigan, where a massive warehouse was built just metres away from residents' back gardens.

Another David and Goliath story that has become all too common in Britain.

The question now is: how many more stories like this will we hear up and down the country?

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