More asylum hotels face legal challenge after court ruling

Councils in England are set to take court action to exclude asylum seekers from hotels in their regions. It comes after the High Court gave a district council a provisional injunction to discourage asylum seekers from staying at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex,. All 12 councils ruled by Reform UK will

do everything in their power to follow Epping's example,

according to Nigel Farage, the party's leader. The Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, Conservative-run council has also suggested taking similar steps. The government will continue to collaborate with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns," Border Security Minister Angela Eagle said.

Farage, a writer for the Telegraph, encouraged people

concerned about the danger faced by young undocumented males living in local hotels

to follow the example of Essex in nonviolent protest. The judge ruled in favour of Epping Forest District Council, who argued that the hotel had become a public safety issue because of its suspected planning violation by refusing to be a true hotel. The lawsuit will return in October, when a judge will have to determine if the Bell Hotel has unlawfully changed how it is used. The Minister of State for Security, Dan Jarvis, told the BBC that the government had never thought that hotels were a good source of accommodation for asylum seekers.

When asked where the asylum seekers at The Bell Hotel would be relocated to, he told BBC Radio 4's Today show that the government was

looking at optionsto rehouse them insuitably suitable alternative accommodation.

He said it was up to local councils to decide whether or not to take similar court action,

but that there were quite specific circumstances in the Epping case.

The basis of the legal complaint was based on a planning issue,

he explained. The allegation of planning fraud had resulted in evidenced harms, according to Epping Forest's complaint. These crimes, in particular, were linked to demonstrations that culminated in violence and arrests. For other councils to follow suit, they would have to show the High Court evidence of local harm.

'Set a precedent'

After the decision was

a matter of urgency about whether it might take a similar action

against a hotel in Cheshunt, Tory-run Broxbourne Council became the first local authority to announce that it was seeking legal assistance. Corina Gander, the council leader, told the BBC that Epping Forest District Council had set a precedent.The government has failed, and local councils are now standing up,she said.Enough is enough now.

In the meantime, the leader of South Norfolk District Council, which has also been led by the Conservatives, has confirmed that the council will not go down the same route over a hotel housing asylum seekers in Diss, which was the object of demonstrations. According to Daniel Elmer, the authority was using planning procedures to ensure that families were being housed in the region rather than single adult males. Government ministers have said they are preparing for other councils to follow Epping's example. The decision raises immediate practical difficulties for the Home Office, which has less than a month to find alternative accommodation for the asylum seekers currently housed at the Bell Hotel. The Home Office lawyers have confirmed that the decision will

significantly affect

the government's ability to house the 32,000 asylum seekers staying in 210 hotels around the country if other councils take similar steps to Epping Forest District Council. They also warned that giving Epping Forest an interim injunction

carries the danger of being a catalyst for more violent protests regarding other asylum seekers.

The government has promised to not use hotels by the end of this session, but some deals are still in place until 2029, and pressure on ministers to find alternative accommodation at a quicker rate than expected.

Our operation continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament,Dame Angela said.The Home Office has also suggested that The Bell Hotel injunction

runs the chance of being a catalyst for further violent protests. People should be

removed on arrivaland sent either totheir country of origin

or a safe third country like Rwanda, according to Shadow home secretary Chris Philp.

If this were true, then the problem of housing people who have crossed the channel illegally, almost all of whom are young men, would not have occurred in the first place.

Thousands of people protested outside the hotel after an asylum seeker who was staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old teen. Hadush Kebatu, 41, denies the charges against him, though a second man who works at the hotel, 32-year-old Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, has been charged with two counts of common assault and four for assault by beating, according to four complainants. The marches, which were also attended by those in favour of asylum seekers, became violent on occasion, according to Essex Police. During the protests, sixteen people have been charged with criminal charges relating to protests. After an eleventh-hour attempt by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to have the council's complaint dismissed, the council was given an injunction to prevent migrants staying at the hotel. The injunction was

good news,

according to district council leader Chris Whitbread, but residents were advised not to protest or

overceleratebecause the demonstrations had causedirparable harm,accordingto the district council's

This is the beginning. In reaction to the decision, he said,

it is not the end. Judges have refused to intervene in recent years, but Epping Forest told the court that the hotel's situation was different, as well as a violation of planning law. Any injunction granted would result in further demonstrations and could significantly interfere with the Home Office's constitutional obligation to prevent a violation of the asylum seekers' human rights, according to the government's counsel. The judge ordered that asylum seekers staying at the hotel by 16:00 BST on September 12th. Everyone agrees hotels are the wrong answer, Enver Solomon, the Refugee Council's chief executive, said, because they

cost the taxpayer billions, trap people in limbo, and are community flashpoints.

We see how demonstrations and hostility leave people who have fled war and persecution feeling afraid and threatened in the very places where they are compelled to live,he said.This makes an already stressful situation worse and prevents people from being safe.