High Wycombe’s former mayor has pledged to make regular aid trips to European refugee camps as French Authorities prepare to evict over a thousand migrants from the Calais Jungle.

A haul of donations gathered from High Wycombe mosques were transported to the Help Refugees Warehouse – an aid distribution point in Calais- by Cllr Khalil Ahmed and a team of volunteers On Sunday, February 21.

The former mayor said he was moved to take action after Wycombe District Council rejected plans to home 200 Syrian refugees in Wycombe at the end of last year.

He said: “After the campaign was rejected I felt that I had to do something to help the camps so I went to the three mosques in High Wycombe and made and appeal for donations.

“We managed to get a van full of donations together as well as more volunteers.”

Shocked at the “squalid” conditions of the camp and the diminishing supplies the team pledged to return on a regular basis to provide further support to the thousands that occupy the camps.

On arriving at the warehouse, Cllr Ahmed recalled: “In my estimation, there were about 40 people that were working there on the Sunday.

“From sorting the clothing, to checking medicines, they also had a kitchen area where they were preparing food to distribute.

“I was told that over 1000 meals were prepared and served every day and had peaked to 2500 at one stage. But supplies were low and they were desperate for more food.”

A lack of uncertainly continues to plague camp residents – including over 400 orphaned children - as French Authorities begin to clear part of the Jungle, in what Cllr Ahmed is calling a “disastrous” move.

Cllr Ahmed continued: “This action would be prove to be disastrous and every effort was being made to stop such action from taking place.

“We later decided to visit 'The Jungle' itself. We observed the squalid conditions that people were surviving in, the tents and makeshift wooden structures.”

Whilst Cllr Ahmed said he will be taking plans “one step at a time”, visits to camps in Dunkirk and Lesvos are on the horizon.