Swindon will offer temporary accommodation and support to up to 100 Afghan refugees over the next year.

And it will make plans to make permanent housing available to four families who have fled the country so recently taken over by the Taliban.

Council leader David Renard said it's a duty the council has in recognition of the support the refugees have given to UK forces in the country over the last 20 years.

Members of Swindon Borough Council's Conservative cabinet unanimously approved a proposal which would see the council set up a "warm welcome team" for the refugees temporarily placed in the borough by the Home Office.

Although the individuals and families will remain the responsibility of central government until they are found a permanent home elsewhere, the council will spend £875 per person per month on the support it will offer. That money will be reimbursed by central government

Help will include holding regular surgeries and advice sessions, work with charities and community groups to arrange activities, and make connections with local groups, manage donations and offers of support from the local community and ensure fair and equitable distribution and help with agencies like the Department for Work and Pensions and other local and national government departments.

The council will also look to providing a permanent home and support for four households from the people taken in by the UK.

Coun Renard said he was pleased by the unanimous support of the cabinet members. He said: "We've all seen what has happened in Afghanistan recently. I was appalled and very sympathetic to the plight these people found themselves in.

"It's up to us to do what we can to support them - the public in Swindon and nationally has been very sympathetic and supportive donating clothing and other things the people need."

He added: "It's a situation none of us would want to find ourselves in. Given the support these people have given our troops in Afghanistan, we can do our bit to both support families placed here temporarily, and house four families long-term."

Last month councillors backed a motion to do what it can to support those fleeing Afghanistan which was put forward by Coun Vijay Manro, whose own family came to the UK as refugees in the 1960s when they were expelled from their home in Uganda by the brutal dictator Idi Amin.

He said he was pleased by the support the council was going to give, particularly offering a permanent place for four families, but he hoped, once they had been settled, the council could then help more people.