Fewer than half the 30,000 extra accommodation places that were due to be planned for asylum seekers by February 1 have been allocated, according to a survey by NOS.

The extra beds were due to be shared equally between the 12 provinces, but not one has achieved its quota of 2,500 and only 14,740 have been planned across the country.

Groningen came closest, organising accommodation for 2,400 refugees including 1,100 at the largest unit so far, in Groningen city. The most populous province, Zuid-Holland, managed just 720, while Flevoland’s tally stands at zero.

In November, the cabinet and the municipal authorities agreed a deal to find 2,500 refugee places in each province by the beginning of February. Subsequent meetings in proposed locations such as Geldermalsen have been the focus of protests by local residents and anti-immigration campaigners.

Not leaving

Meanwhile, the Telegraaf reports that the number of asylum seekers leaving the country after being refused permission to stay barely increased last year.

According to figures obtained from the deportation service DT&V,10,080 people left the Netherlands with its support last year, representing a 3% rise.

However, the Telegraaf reports that many failed applicants were staying in the country illegally rather than going back to their countries of origin. The DT&V’s figure included 4,980 people who left the country ‘independently without supervision’. In such cases the authorities only check if the person is still living at their last registered address.

The number of deportations has fallen steadily from 3,590 in 2012 to 1,830 last year.