COUNCILS across England are considering legal challenges as the UK Government scrambles to draw up contingency plan for housing asylum seekers set to be removed from a hotel in Epping, Essex.
Ministers are now bracing for further legal challenges from councils after Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction by the High Court on Tuesday.
The ruling blocks asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town, and current residents must be removed by September 12.
While the council had not “definitively established” that Somani Hotels had breached planning rules, the judge stated that “the strength of the claimant’s case is such that it weighs in favour” of granting the injunction.
On Wednesday, some Conservative and Reform UK-led authorities said they were looking at their options to take similar action.
Conservative-run Broxbourne Council in Hertfordshire has said it was taking legal advice “as a matter of urgency”, while Tory-run East Lindsey District Council in Lincolnshire said officers are investigating and “will take appropriate action”.
Reform UK-led councils, West Northamptonshire Council and Staffordshire County Council, also said the authorities would look at the options available after the High Court ruling.
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.”
It comes as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has indicated that councils run by his party will consider their own legal challenges.
However, a number of these councils do not have responsibility for planning permission, which may limit their ability to launch legal challenges.
Epping Forest District Council had asked a judge to issue an interim injunction stopping migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel after it had been at the centre of protests in recent weeks.
The demonstrations came after an asylum seeker, who was staying there, was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
He denies the charge and is due to stand trial later this month.
The Home Office had 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”.
Reacting to the ruling on Wednesday, Security Minister Dan Jarvis told Times Radio: “We’re looking at a range of different contingency options following from a legal ruling that took place yesterday, and we’ll look closely at what we’re able to do.”
Asked whether other migrant hotels have the proper planning permission, Jarvis said: “Well, we’ll see over the next few days and weeks.
“Other local authorities will be considering whether they wish to act in the same way that Epping (Forest) District Council have.
“I think the important point to make is that 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.”
