Councils across England are considering legal challenges after a High Court ruling blocked the use of an Essex hotel to house asylum seekers. The Conservative-led Broxbourne council in Hertfordshire said it is taking legal advice “as a matter of urgency” on whether it can follow the example of neighbouring Epping Forest district council, which successfully obtained an injunction to prevent asylum seekers being accommodated at the Bell hotel in Epping.
Corina Gander, leader of Broxbourne council, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that a hotel in the town of Cheshunt placed “an enormous strain on local services”. She said: “We are going to be looking at the ruling of Epping yesterday and we will be expecting to go down the same path as Epping.” Gander added that her council had previously tried to get legal advice to block the hotel but had been unsuccessful, and that Epping had “set a precedent for local councils”.
The ruling has been seized on by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who wrote in the Telegraph that the party’s 12 councils would “do everything in their power” to replicate Epping’s approach. However, some of these councils do not have responsibility for planning permission, which may limit their ability to launch legal challenges. After Farage’s comments, West Northamptonshire and Staffordshire county councils, both led by Reform, said they would look at options available. Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire county council, said: “The control and protection of our country’s borders is a national issue, but the impact of central government policy is felt in communities across Staffordshire.”
Security minister Dan Jarvis told Times Radio that the government is looking at “a range of different contingency options” following the ruling. He said: “Nobody really thinks that hotels are a sustainable location to accommodate asylum seekers. That’s precisely why the government has made a commitment that, by the end of this parliament, we would have phased out the use of them.” Jarvis also criticised Farage’s call for protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, saying he believed “the very worst politicians try and drive people apart”.
The High Court gave the Home Office until 12 September to stop housing asylum seekers at the Bell hotel. The Home Office had argued that granting an injunction risked setting a precedent and could hinder its legal duty to provide accommodation. The decision followed weeks of far-right protests in Epping, including clashes outside the hotel, where an asylum seeker has been charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
