A London commuter belt town has confirmed it is considering its own legal action against the Home Office over migrant hotels after a High Court temporarily blocked asylum seekers being housed in Epping.
Conservative-run Broxbourne Council said it was taking legal advice “as a matter of urgency” about whether it could take similar action to Epping Forest District Council.
Leader Corina Gander said the Hertfordshire local authority will "go down the same path as Epping" following Tuesday's High Court ruling where a temporary injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed at the Essex hotel was put in place.
Ms Gander said a hotel in town of Cheshunt puts "an enormous strain on local services".
“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,” the Tory councillor told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Ms Gander said her council previously tried to get legal advice to block the hotel but had not been successful.
“What Epping have done is they have really set a precedent for local councils,” she added.
Councils across England are now weighing up court bids to prevent migrants being placed in hotels in their areas.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage indicated the 12 councils where Reform UK was the largest party would consider legal challenges following Tuesday’s ruling.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Farage said the local authorities would do “everything in their power to follow Epping’s lead”.
On Tuesday, a High Court judge ruled the former Bell Hotel in Epping must stop housing asylum seekers by September 12.
Mr Farage added: “The good people of Epping must inspire similar protests around Britain. Wherever people are concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels and who are free to walk their streets, they should follow the example of the town in Essex.”
Epping had seen thousands of people turn out in protest about the housing of migrants in the Bell Hotel after an asylum seeker who was staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
The council had asked a judge to issue an interim injunction stopping migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel.
The Home Office warned the judge that an injunction could “interfere” with the department’s legal obligations, and lawyers representing the hotel’s owner argued it would set a “precedent”.
Meanwhile, the leader of South Norfolk District Council, which covers the town of Diss where a hotel housing asylum seekers has also been the subject of protests, said the council would not go down the same route.
Conservative leader Daniel Elmer said the council was using planning rules to try to ensure it was families being housed in the area rather than single adult males. He said to do so, which would effectively convert the hotels into hostels, should require a change of use.
Two men have been arrested and charged in connection with a protest in July outside the hotel in Diss, which houses more than 40 children.
Mr Elmer said: “We make a big play about integration, and to replace families who have children in the local school system and have integrated into the local community would make no sense.
“If we can punish people who have put up sheds in their gardens without permission, then we can take action against hotels being converted into hostels without planning consent.”
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said the Government will “continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns”.
She added: “Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament.”
Lawyers for the Home Office had warned the court that an injunction “runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests”.
Edward Brown KC also said the injunction would “substantially interfere” with the Home Office’s statutory duty in potentially avoiding a breach of the asylum seekers’ human rights.
