Council chiefs are still hopeful the first Syrian refugee family will be welcomed into the borough before Christmas, although no date has been set.

Last month, Ashford Borough Council announced plans to welcome up to 250 refugees from Syria over the next five years.

Cllr Gerry Clarkson, the council leader, said he felt personally responsible to help families from the war-torn country as the humanitarian situation continued to worsen.

The council agreed plans to house about 50 refugees from camps in and around Syria every year, providing them with accommodation in private, rented homes.

A council spokesman said that preparation work was well under way.

It had been overwhelmed with offers of voluntary support from groups around the borough. He said: “We’re obviously continuing our extensive preparatory work and continuing to meet organisations who will be able to aid us in a borough-wide collaborative response to integrating these families.

“This will ensure that Ashford stands ready to receive the most vulnerable families from the camps around Syria as part of the government’s national resettlement programme.

“Government minister Richard Harrington has personally telephoned the leader of the council to express his gratitude for the way in which Ashford is professionally responding to the government scheme.

“We will continue to work closely with the public, private and voluntary sector in readiness for the arrival of refugee families to the borough. We are still hoping to have our first family over by Christmas but awaiting details. At this stage we know we’re not in the first tranche.”

Cllr Clarkson said he would like to avoid creating one ghetto of refugees. He preferred families to be housed in private accommodation around the borough to integrate into their new lives.

A group of around 100 Syrian refugees arrived in the UK last week when the first of a series of charter flights arrived at Glasgow Airport.

The group, who come mainly from refugee camps in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan after fleeing war in their homeland, were resettled by local authorities across Scotland.

Central government has vowed to resettle 20,000 refugees in the country by 2020 and is hopeful that 1,000 will be here by Christmas. Britain has agreed to only accept refugees who have committed to undergoing a two-stage security screening process.

Families of about four to seven heading for Ashford will be processed by central government and flown to the UK with an automatic right to work and benefits.