THE REFUGEE camp at the town of Grande Synthe near Dunkirk had been labled the ‘forgotten camp’, but is fast gaining prominence as it gets rapidly bigger.

And it is just one of the camps near Dunkirk.

At Tetegham, a few miles from the port, is another expanding camp, now housing more than 500 refugees, and yet another camp close to Grande Synthe is now home to more than 300 Eritreans.

These aren’t the only camps, and no one appears to be certain how many refugees are in northern France hoping to make it across the Channel to the UK, or into Belgium, or to one of the Scandinavian countries.

But recent reports suggest the camps are overloaded, as the tide of refugees fleeing the war in Syria and neighbouring countries reaches the Channel, and the Calais camp is cleared.

For the new arrivals, winter accommodation is either donated tents, polythene covered shelters, ramshackle huts, or shipping containers; medical care is uncertain, food is scarce, and education for children is non-existent.

Claire Lowe and her partner Alex Eneas from Petersfield, with help from friends, have just returned from delivering aid donated by residents, and schools in and around Petersfield.

Alex said: “We took some to the Eritrean camp. The toilets were overflowing, the van was sliding in it. At least there were social workers, but the facilities aren’t good.”

Claire said: “At Grande Synthe mothers were asking for medicine for their children, many of whom had rashes; all I could suggest was anti-septic cream.

“They are burning anything to keep warm, and the children are breathing in the polluted smoke – they need face masks or clean fuel.

“Mixed with the damp and the cold, it’s a recipe for some sort of epidemic.

“And this is happening almost on our doorstep, it’s virtually here, it’s real, and something needs to be done properly to help. Donated aid and volunteers can’t be the solution. But what?”

Alex added: “Unless something is done these camps will become permanent, and people will live their lives in them, like the huge refugee camps in the Middle East.”