Asylum seekers can continue living in the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, aHigh Court judge ruled today.
The local council took legal action against owner Somani Hotels, claiming that the hotel is breaching planning permissions.
Somani Hotels opposed the claim, telling a London court last month that accommodating asylum seekers is not a ‘material change of use’.
The Home Office intervened in the closely-watched case, which has come to symbolise the polarising debate over immigration in the UK.
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Justice Mould dismissed the claim, saying it was ‘not an appropriate means of enforcing planning control’.
The hotel became the centre of heated and at times violent anti-immigration protests over the summer after an asylum seeker staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was jailed for a year in September before being mistakenly freed and placed back behind bars.
Far-right groups tore through Eppig for weeks, clashing with police and ending with 23 people arrested.
A judge granted the council a temporary injunction that would have stopped 138 asylum seekers from being housed there beyond September.
But the Court of Appeal overturned this in August, ruling it was ‘seriously flawed in principle’ and hotel bosses did not need planning permission.
While council officials want a permanent injunction, the appeal court said to do so would mean asylum seekers would need to be re-housed.
The government must provide accommodation for asylum applicants who would otherwise be homeless and who are mostly prevented from working.
Some 200 hotels, once used only in emergencies, now house 32,000 asylum seekers. They are staying there until officials determine if their claim is valid.
The Bell first began housing asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021 and again from October 2022 to April 2024 – the council took no action.
Other councils are considering blocking hotel owners from accommodating asylum seekers, most led by Reform UK councillors.
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