'Go Home or Get Arrested' Adverts Banned

Adverts were misleading but not offensive say watchdog

Adverts spotted in Hounslow which told illegal immigrants to 'Go home or face arrest' have been banned.

The Advertising Standards Authority said the Home Office billboard, pasted on the side of vans driven through Hounslow, Barking & Dagenham, Ealing, Barnet, Brent and Redbridge in July, was misleading. 

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) cleared the campaign of being offensive and irresponsible.

The advert said there had been 106 arrests in the area in the past week but the ASA said the reference to the number of arrests was misleading because it didn't relate to those detained in the specific areas where people would have seen the vans.

"The ad must not appear again in its current form," said the ASA report.

But the watchdog dismissed complaints that the slogan "Go home" had been offensive or irresponsible. It said that, while the phrase had been used in the past to attack immigrants, the Home Office was now using it in a different context.

The report said: "We concluded that the poster was unlikely to incite or exacerbate racial hatred and tensions in multicultural communities.

"It was not irresponsible and did not contain anything which was likely to condone or encourage violence or anti-social behaviour."

The council want the views of parents, governors, staff and residents on the proposals to expand:

St Paul’s CE Primary
Beavers Primary
Hounslow Heath Infant & Nursery
Hounslow Heath Junior
St Mary’s RC, Isleworth.

Cllr Tom Bruce, cabinet member for education at the council, said:

“We’ve been creating extra classes in schools every year since 2008, but demand keeps growing so we need to keep planning ahead to make sure we have enough places in future.

“These schools have been chosen because they are in areas where there is demand for extra places and we think there is enough room for expansion to take place.

“It takes time to expand a school, so we’re asking for people’s views on the proposals now so we can make sure we can provide enough places by 2015.”

The consultation runs until 18 October, and a report on the findings will be published in December when the council will decide how to proceed. If the proposals are accepted, official notices on proposals for each school will be published in January 2014, when people will get the chance to have their say before a final decision is made in April.

In recent years, Brentford has seen a significant number of new homes being
built and there are plans for more in the future.

Projections for Brentford show that four new classes will be needed in
September 2015 and the council’s proposal is to expand St Paul’s CE Primary
School.

The expansion of St Paul’s CE Primary School was consulted on during 2012.
However, at that time it was not possible to complete the expansion process
because accommodation for this expansion could not be secured within the
consultation timeframe. These issues are now being resolved and the council
is consulting again on proposals to expand the school from one form entry to two forms.

The rationale for this option is that:

demand for places is high and the school is consistently oversubscribed;
the school is judged by Ofsted to be a ‘good’ school;
the site is quite constrained and alternative options are being explored to
expand the school into Alexandra House, Albany Road, Brentford;
the cost of necessary building work is affordable.

View the consultation and have your say on the proposals.

October 9, 2013