Councils across England are considering legal action over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers following a landmark ruling in the High Court.
Epping Forest District Council in Essex asked a judge to intervene after continued protests outside the Bell Hotel following the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by a migrant staying there.
Mr Justice Eyre granted an interim injunction because he agreed that the owners Somani Hotels did not have the required planning permission for use of the premises as a hostel, rather than a hotel.
Asylum seekers must be removed from the hotel by 12 September.
Chris Whitbread, leader of Epping Forest council, said he was “delighted” with the ruling and added that it is a decision which is important to “councils up and down the country”.
“It shows that the Government cannot ignore planning rules, just like no-one else can ignore planning rules,” he added.
Here The i Paper looks at what might come next.
Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage reacted with glee to the High Court ruling and said that all local councils controlled by his party will look to follow Epping’s lead.
Reform is currently the leading party in twelve authorities across England.
They are; Derbyshire, Doncaster, Kent, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, Durham, North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage (Photo: Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)Hotels have been used to house asylum seekers in many of these locations.
The Midland Hotel and Station Hotel in Derby, for example, has been used by the Home Office to locate asylum seekers for several years.
The Ibis hotel in Crick, Northamptonshire, has also attracted protests since it started being used for asylum seekers last November.
Writing in The Telegraph, Farage said: “Let’s hold peaceful protests outside the migrant hotels, and put pressure on local councils to go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out; we now know that together we can win.”
What about the Conservatives?
The Conservative Party also welcomed the ruling on the Bell Hotel in Epping, even though putting asylum seekers in hotels is a policy which they introduced when in government.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has turned out in support of the protests in recent weeks and shadow home secretary Chris Philp said ending crossings into the country would “stop the hotels”.
The Cresta Court hotel in Altrincham (pictured) has been used to house migrants in the North West, which has been targered by anti-migrant influencers. (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)Writing in the Daily Express, he said: “Every illegal arrival must be removed, every loophole must be closed, every community must be protected so towns like Epping are never put in this position again.”
The Conservatives have more than 5,000 councillors and currently control 56 of the 152 local authorities in the UK.
Conservative-run Broxbourne Council in Hertfordshire has already said it is taking legal advice “as a matter of urgency” about whether it can take similar action to Epping.
Although the Labour party is now in Government, its local councillors have also opposed the use of hotels for asylum seekers in many areas of the country.
In Newcastle, for example, tensions have been simmering in recent weeks over the use of the New Bridge Hotel in the city centre.
Earlier this month, Labour leader Karen Kilgour reiterated her position that the hotel is “unsuitable accommodation” for asylum seekers and that talks are continuing with the Home Office.
In Trafford, there have been continued protests outside the Cresta Court hotel in Altrincham which has been used to house asylum seekers.
Chris Whitbread, the leader of Epping Forest District Council, speaks to the media outside the High Court after the ruling yesterday (Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images)The council is currently led by Labour but has previously been a Tory stronghold and the party remains under pressure locally to resolve the issue.
Leader of Trafford Conservatives Nathan Evans said he is hoping his party can bring a motion asking their council to seek an injunction to block the use of the Cresta Court hotel for housing asylum seekers within the next fortnight.
Of the Epping ruling, Evans added: “It’s great for residents and we’re working on this now.”
How likely are copycat injunctions to be successful?
It remains unclear how many of these locations across England may be open to similar legal action.
A number of local authorities have previously attempted to use planning laws to challenge the use of hotels for asylum seekers, with mixed results.
Ipswich Borough Council in Suffolk and Fenland District Council in Cambridgeshire were both refused injunctions by the High Court on the basis that the planning harm caused outweighed the need for accommodation for asylum seekers.
However, Great Yarmouth council in Norfolk succeeded with a similar injunction to Epping’s in 2018 because they argued hotels intended for use for asylum seekers were part of a “protected tourism area”.
At the High Court on Tuesday, lawyers for the Home Office had warned the court that the Epping injunction “runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests”.
Edward Brown KC also said the injunction would “substantially interfere” with the Home Office’s statutory duty in potentially avoiding a breach of the asylum seekers’ human rights.
But Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said that the Home Office’s request was “a thoroughly unprincipled application made in a thoroughly unprincipled way”, and that the department knew of the injunction bid last week but “sat on their hands”.
Police form a line between anti-immigration demonstrators and counterprotesters outside the Barbican Thistle hotel in London (Photo: Toby Melville/Reuters)Asked about the prospect of further legal challenges, security minister Dan Jarvis told Times Radio on Wednesday: “We’re looking at a range of different contingency options following from a legal ruling that took place yesterday, and we’ll look closely at what we’re able to do.”
Asked whether other migrant hotels have the proper planning permission, Mr Jarvis said: “Well, we’ll see over the next few days and weeks.
“Other local authorities will be considering whether they wish to act in the same way that Epping (Forest) District Council have.
“I think the important point to make is that nobody really thinks that hotels are a sustainable location to accommodate asylum seekers.
“That’s precisely why the Government has made a commitment that, by the end of this Parliament, we would have phased out the use of them.”
Hence then, the article about the councils considering legal action next over asylum hotels was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The councils considering legal action next over asylum hotels )
Also on site :
- Moltbook, a social network where AI agents hang together, may be ‘the most interesting place on the internet right now’
- World Pickleball League 2026: Mumbai Picklepower go down to Bengaluru Jawana despite Brandon Lane's heroics
- Costco’s $25 Glassware Set Is Giving Anthropologie Vibes for Less