West Devon Borough Council has confirmed that it has conducted most of the housing checks ready for Ukrainian refugee families to move in since the introduction of the Homes for Ukraine scheme in March.

Cllr Barry Ratcliffe, lead member for housing at the borough council, said that the council has already conducted 88 per cent of the housing checks for those residents who have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees fleeing from the ongoing war with Russia.

Devon County Council data shows that 5,000 families across the county have offered to host Ukrainian refugees with 37 Ukrainian families already in the West Devon region alone and more set to arrive.

However, Cllr Ratcliffe has suggested that the numbers may be higher since the government does not receive real time data resulting in a time lag.

Borough councillor Tony Leech has also admitted that accurate data can be hard to find because there is not yet a streamlined system that collates all the information.

Tavistock mayor Andy Hutton has said he suspects his Ukrainian refugee family will be in the town for longer than the officially-allowed six months.

Cllr Hutton, who collected ‘his’ family from Bristol airport last week with his wife Sue, said he believes Ukraine’s war with Russia could continue for longer.

He said that while their guests, a mum with two children aged six and 10, did not know a great deal of English, they were getting to know each other by using an online translating system.

Cllr Hutton, who relinquishes his mayoral chain later this month, said the family were settling well into their new surroundings.

He said: ‘We don’t know how long they will be here. At the moment, they are here for six months, but with the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still here at Christmas. They are very relieved to be here, though and there are going to be more Ukrainian families here they can talk to, which is very important for them.’

He added: ‘We’re delighted they are here — the two girls are at Tavistock Primary School and the younger one was so excited about going, she forgot to kiss her mother goodbye on her first day.

‘Tavistock has been incredibly welcoming, as one would have expected and so many people have offered to help in any way they can, whether this is inviting everybody around for a meal or taking us out for a boat trip. As many of our guests do not speak English, lessons are being arranged for the children as well as the mothers and on Saturday morning many of the Ukrainian mothers were going down to the library in Tavistock for their first lesson while many of the hosts are travelling down to act as childminders.’

Cllr Hutton said he and his wife Sue had no doubts that they wanted to help the refugees and said: ‘Immediately the war started, we knew we wanted to do something to help and this is the best way of doing it.’