Herefordshire has offered to take up to 56 Afghan refugees before Christmas, but with a warning that it will be "incredibly difficult" to find suitable housing for them.

Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for health and adult wellbeing Coun Felicity Norman said: "We want to avoid housing them in social housing so as not to displace others."

As with previous refugees settled in the county, the council will instead seek private housing, according to the councillor, whose proposal to take 125 refugees was agreed by the council in June last year.

"In nearly all cases they are families who need their own houses, but it's incredibly difficult to find such housing," she said.

A council spokesperson confirmed: “We are currently working with a range of landlords to confirm the specific locations (where the refugees will be housed).”

She added that, following the initial intake of 56, "We will be resettling more people over time with a view to reaching and exceeding our offer of 125 refugees."

The offer draws on two government schemes which provide host authorities with over £20,000 per refugee, plus further funding to cover health, education and language costs.

"The council is confident this funding will meet all of the costs incurred by our resettlement plans," its spokesperson said.

The UK military flew out about 8,000 Afghan citizens from Kabul in August, in addition to more than 70,000 flown out by US forces, following the US withdrawal and subsequent takeover of the county by the Taliban militia.

They join over half a million Afghans already displaced by the conflict in the country.

The UK government has committed to resettling up to 20,000 Afghan refugees nationally. 

Herefordshire resettled 95 mainly Syrian refugees fleeing conflict there between 2016 to 2018, though Coun Norman said it had proved to be "very difficult" to house them in the county.