A COUPLE from Towyn have had their wedding plans saved after the hotel in the Conwy Valley she had initially booked closed to the public to provide emergency accommodation to asylum seekers.

Lucie Campbell, 28, from Towyn, was set to marry her fiancé, Simon Pritchard, at the Hilton Garden Inn at Adventure Parc Snowdonia in Dolgarrog on December 10.

But having booked her wedding more than a year ago at the hotel, she was told by her wedding co-ordinator on November 5 that this would no longer be possible.

After the wedding appeared in doubt, Lucie and Simon were fortunately able to pencil in their special day on the same date at Plas Maenan Country House in Llanrwst instead.

A relieved Lucie said: “We have found an alternative venue, so apart from a few changes, the wedding can still go ahead! Gail and Debbie there have been brilliant.

“I emailed them, they got straight back to me and invited us there to have a look around that same day.

“They had seen our story, so knew the situation and were more than happy to help. They were so accommodating and worked around our budget.

“We are both so relieved that the wedding can still go ahead and haven’t had to make many changes.

“Although we now have a beautiful new venue and our wedding can still go ahead, it doesn’t take away any of the stress and upset that The Hilton caused us.

“It was a really stressful few days, and at times, looking like we would have to just call it off completely.

“But we are now able to look forward to marrying one another, surrounded by our families and spending our first Christmas as husband and wife!”

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Towyn woman’s wedding in doubt after Conwy Valley hotel houses asylum seekers

The Hilton Garden Inn has closed to the public to support a UK Government contract, it said.

Lucie did add, though, that the hotel has fully refunded her the thousands of pounds spent on hiring the premises for her wedding.

Simon, 31, and Lucie have been together for more than a decade, and have three children, the youngest of whom was born three months ago.

The Home Office does not comment on operational arrangements for individual sites used for asylum accommodation.

It added that it is working hard to find appropriate dispersed accommodation for migrants, asylum seekers and Afghan refugees as soon as possible.

It also urged local authorities to do all they can to help house people permanently.

The cost of accommodating asylum seekers in hotels is £5.6million a day, while the cost of accommodating Afghans in bridging hotels is £1.2m a day.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

“The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6million a day.

“The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation.”

Robin Millar, the MP for Aberconwy, believes there are 86 people in residence at the hotel, but says it could rise to 100.

Mr Millar has raised a number of concerns about the location of the site.

Cllr Charlie McCoubrey, leader of Conwy County Borough Council, said last week that the local authority was not given advance notice about these arrangements.

Attempts were also made last week to contact London Rock Partners, the hotel operating company responsible for the Hilton Garden Inn.