A landmark High Court decision against the Bell Hotel in Epping could throw the government’s asylum policy into chaos, as local councils prepare to use planning laws to shut down other migrant hotels.
On Tuesday, Mr Justice Eyre sided with Epping Forest district council, ruling that housing asylum seekers in the Bell Hotel amounted to an unlawful “change of use” without planning permission. Owners Somani Hotels had failed to notify the local authority before signing a lucrative contract with the Home Office, which the judge compared to turning the premises into a “borstal” rather than a functioning hotel.
A deadline of September 12th was set for all migrants to be off the premises. No word yet on where the group of approximately 140 men will go while they wait for their asylum claims to be processed.
Mr Justice Eyre’s judgement went ahead after rejecting the last-minute efforts of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to have the council’s legal case dismissed.
It is now expected to set a legal precedent where other ‘migrant hotels’ could be forced to close if they are found to be in breach of planning laws. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice has said that within the 10 council areas it controls, Reform councillors will investigate the scope to pursue similar actions against hotel owners.
The rather technical details of the ruling should not obscure the fact that it was reached against a backdrop of public pressure, prompted after one of the Bell Hotel’s Ethiopian residents was charged with sexual offences against a local teenager.
