High Court blocks councils' bids to prevent asylum seekers being placed in hotels

The High Court has blocked bids made by two local authorities to prevent asylum seekers being housed in hotels.

Ipswich Borough Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council had sought injunctions to prevent large hotels in their areas being used by the Home Office’s contractor Serco to house people seeking asylum.

The two councils had argued that the housing of asylum seekers would amount to a change-of-use from hotel to hostel and therefore be in breach of planning regulations.

Ipswich Borough Council had also argued that the hotel, the Novotel Ipswich Centre, was the largest in the town and its block-booking by the Home Office would have implications for local leisure and hospitality businesses and could put pressure on essential services.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council had raised several suitability and safety concerns in regard to the use of the Humber View Hotel in North Ferriby.

Temporary injunctions had been granted on 27 October preventing any further people being placed at the hotels. However, judge Mr Justice Holgate said neither council had shown there was an urgent legal case for the injunctions, presented “a case of substantial planning harm” or provided evidence requiring the intervention of the court.

Responding to the judgement Ipswich Borough Council said: "The council is very disappointed the court did not continue the interim injunction. It will now consider the judgement and its options including its application for an injunction at the final hearing and other planning enforcement measures relating to the use of the Novotel Hotel."

A spokesman for East Riding of Yorkshire Council said: "We are disappointed that the court has declined to grant the interim injunction under the Town and Country Planning Act.

"We will now consider our legal position in respect of a final injunction hearing and any other methods of planning enforcement available to us in due course."

Serco is responsible for accommodating 35,645 people seeking asylum in the UK.

Approximately 11,200 people are currently being provided with accommodation in 84 hotels across the country, court documents show.

The Novotel Ipswich Centre, owned by Fairview Hotels, had entered a 12-month agreement with Serco to block book its 101 bedrooms. As of 24 October, 37 rooms had been occupied by 72 people.

The Humber View Hotel had entered an agreement to accommodate single men in 77 of its 95 rooms, which had been booked for an initial period of three months at an average room rate of £85 a night. Its owner LGH Group, currently has ‘sole use’ agreements with the Home Office in relation to 13 hotels.

Serco told the court it had written to both the relevant MP and local authority when making agreements with hotel groups to house asylum seekers and had met with the relevant parties.

*Image: Alex Segre / Shutterstock *