There has been no shortage of headlines about asylum seekers in the UK over the summer, and a major court decision yesterday ensured that won’t change soon.
Epping Forest District Council in Essex was granted a temporary injunction by the High Court, blocking the town’s Bell Hotel from housing asylum seekers.
This has the potential to explode into a major issue for the government.
According to the Home Office, around 210 hotels are being used to accommodate people who arrived in the UK illegally and claimed asylum.
They are staying there until officials determine if their claim is valid and they can be considered a refugee from a country where they would be unsafe.
If other councils across the country successfully take the same route as Epping – as many are floating – then the tens of thousands of people in those hotels may have to be housed elsewhere.
And wherever they end up, the spotlight on them will arguably be more intense than it ever has been.
That’s because high-profile politicians including Reform leader Nigel Farage and Tory Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick have been loudly raising concerns about the supposed risk ‘young undocumented males’ pose to communities.
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Such remarks were criticised by more than 100 women’s organisations yesterday in a letter saying they reinforce the ‘damaging myth that the greatest risk of gender-based violence comes from strangers’.
Who runs Epping Council and why did they challenge the use of the hotel?
Epping Forest District Council is run by the Conservatives.
The local authority’s legal challenge came about as the town became the focus of demonstrations against the housing of asylum seekers in hotels.
In the case of Epping, protests erupted after a man living at the Bell Hotel was charged with sexual assault, inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, and harassment without violence.
Hadush Kebatu denies the charges.
Last week, a second man living at the hotel – Mohammed Sharwarq – was charged with sexual assault, common assault and assault by beating. He also denies the charges.
Amid the protests, the council voted unanimously to call on the government to close the Bell Hotel.
Council leader Chris Whitbread said: ‘I am concerned that our residents’ peaceful protests are being infiltrated on the extremes of politics.’
However, the successful court action ended up hinging on the mundanities of English planning law.
The council was able to argue that housing asylum seekers is not a permitted use of the hotel for planning purposes.
It’s worth noting that the injunction granted yesterday was just a temporary one, and Epping Council will need to return to court later if it wants to make the order permanent.
Will other councils follow Epping Council to close asylum seeker hotels?
Not long after the decision from the court was announced, other councils around the country said they would take the same approach to get hotels in their area shut down.
Broxbourne Council in Hertfordshire was among the first, saying it would ‘take legal advice as a matter of urgency’ over the use of the Delta Marriott in Cheshunt.
The council’s Conservative leader Corina Gander has also written to the Home Office looking for assurance no asylum seekers will be moved to Chesham from Epping, which is just eight miles away.
Meanwhile, Farage has said the 12 councils controlled by Reform UK will ‘do everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead’.
There’s no guarantee the same result would happen everywhere, though, due to the complexities of England’s planning laws and local government structures.
What has the government said about the Bell Hotel closure?
Straight after the judgement, border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said the government would ‘continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns’ around the hotels.
In an appearance on Good Morning Britain today, security minister Dan Jarvis said the government had ‘never believed that hotels are an appropriate accommodation arrangement for asylum seekers’.
Asked where the people who were staying in the Bell Hotel may be moved, he said the Home Office was considering a ‘range of contingency options’ but declined to be any more specific.
The options are limited. Asylum seekers are only being housed in hotels at the moment because there aren’t many other places for them to live while their claims are processed.
As of last month, an extra 400 places are being prepared at RAF Wethersfield in Essex to house male asylum seekers.
But with the climate around immigration as tense as it is, it’s not clear if any answer could be the right one.
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