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THIS is the inside of the giant migrant flotel where 500 young male asylum seekers will live in en-suite rooms with a gym, cinema room, sports pitch and restaurant.

They will also have access to excursions including cycling, cricket, hiking, festivals and even tending to allotments in the Dorset countryside when they are moved on to the Bibby Stockholm in Portland from next week.

The arrival of the young men has angered locals in the popular nearby seaside town of Weymouth because of fears of extra pressure on services and bored young men hanging out on the streets.

Buses will be put on every hour from 7am-11pm allowing them to be dropped off at four different stops in the town, popular for its sandy beach and Punch and Judy shows.

A local taxi firm has been contracted to pick up those who miss the bus back to the football pitch-sized barge at night.

The Sun was yesterday granted access to the vessel which is moored on a part of Portland’s business port behind guarded heavy steel gates.

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Inside there are around 200 12x12ft rooms for two people in bunk beds with en-suite showers, wardrobe and a desk and TV screen.

There are another 20 rooms for four people, and two rooms for six people, as well as a few isolation rooms for sick people.

The guests, who are expected to stay for around nine months while their asylum applications are processed, also have access to a gym with running machines, rowing machine, weights and a boombox sound system.

There are two large TV rooms showing films and with Freeview TV.

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A 25mx10m recreation area will have basketball, volleyball and football goal posts.

Another same sized area will be used for tables and relaxation.

There is also a “multi-faith room” for “reflection and maybe meditate”.

A restaurant will serve dishes such as steak, fish and chips, and stir frys, as well as a 24-hour menu of soup, bread and jams and coffee and tea.

Residents will also not be subjected to fire drills in case it is triggering for those who have come from warzones, spokeswoman for Landry & Kling, which provided the boat, said.

She added: “The aim is to keep them mentally and physically active.

“We have more services on site than you would get in a hotel.”

There is also a classroom with 16 desks, where English and other educational, and arts and craft classes will be available.

The spokeswoman added: “We’re trying to create a community here so people feel comfortable.”

A nurse clinic which can see 24 patients-a-day is also on board which the Home Office is paying the NHS £1,900-per-bed to provide, to try and keep the pressure off local GP surgeries.

Residents are checked with an airport security style scanners each time they board with a 24-hour team of six security staff on patrol.

A spokeswoman added: “Anyone caught carrying a weapon would be escorted off the boat and police called.”

Leanne Palk, assistant director of asylum accommodation at the Home Office, emphasised: “It is not a floating prison.

“It is open, it is light, it is airy. People aren’t restricted to just being on the vessel.

“I know this is within a compound, but we have got a significant number of activities organised by the local council and voluntary organisation for people to engage in.

“What we want here is for people to feel like they are part of a wider community.”

Ms Palk said the migrants would be given an induction pack with advice on “what is expected in the local community”.

She added they would be advised not to hang around in “large groups of people.”

They will also be given £9.50-a-week in pocket money,

The migrants are expected to arrive on the barge from next week but the project has been beset with delays.

But the local MP Richard Drax, residents and two protests groups, No To The Barge and Stand Up To Racism, have opposed their arrival, with a protest being held outside the port again yesterday.

Mother-of-three Sammy Gray, 37, who lives next to Portland Port said: “It will be like lockdown again for me and my three children - I won’t let them go out for fear that they will be at the mercy of these unknown men next door.

“I have a five-year-old autistic daughter who plays on the beach next to the port entrance and I’m going to have to stop her from going down there.

“It will break her heart and she will not be able to understand why she can no longer play there.

“I have a duty of care to my daughter and I just feel that having all these unknown men around is a risk too far.

“I’m not racist I’d be just as concerned if 500 unknown men from Yorkshire or Scotland were dumped on my doorstep.”

Halanna Lowe, 35, a cleaner from Lyme Bay, said: “They think Portland’s a dumping ground.

“They’ve dumped it here because they think we don’t matter and they think we won’t make a fuss. Portland has been treated with contempt.

“We just haven’t got the services here on the island to accommodate another 500 people.

“We’re not racist we’re just angry that Portland which has a lot of problems is now having to put up with yet another problem.”

A Stand up to Racism demonstrator who did not want to be named, said: “We utterly don’t support the barge - it’s the wrong place for it to be. We are totally in support of the refugees when they arrive.

“It should be managed by creating safe passages and we should be speeding up the asylum claims. It’s just a distraction technique - all the time they are focused on the 500 asylum seekers they are not focussed on the cost of living crisis.”

It has been reported that the vessel would cost £15,000-a-day to charter, with the cost of berthing upwards of £4,500-a-day.

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Dorset Council has been given a £2 million funding package to meet the cost of providing services for the Bibby Stockholm residents.

The government insists it is cheaper than housing asylum seekers in hotels but refused to give an exact figure on how much it was costing.

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