The Home Office has lost a bid to push back by six weeks the full hearing of Epping Forest District Council’s (EFDC’s) legal challenge against the owner of the Bell Hotel over its use as accommodation for asylum seekers.
The council is taking legal action against Somani Hotels over the use of the Essex hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers.
On Friday, the Court of Appeal overturned a temporary injunction granted by the High Court last month, which would have meant 138 asylum seekers could not be accommodated at the hotel after September 12.
The council could still be granted an injunction following a full hearing of its legal claim, which is due to be heard in the week of October 13.
But at a hearing on Thursday, barristers for the Home Office, supported by Somani Hotels, asked for the hearing to be pushed back by six weeks, stating that there were “very powerful reasons” for a “period of reflection” following the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
The council opposed the bid, stating that the case should “proceed apace”.
In a ruling, Mr Justice Eyre dismissed the bid, stating that the council was “entitled to proceed with its claim”.
He said: “I have to assume that the claimant, as a responsible public body, will reflect on the points raised in any event.”
He continued: “It is in the interests of all that the matters affecting the Bell Hotel are resolved in a reasonably expeditious way.”
Edward Brown KC, for the Home Office, told the hearing that the trial of EFDC’s claim should be delayed as the Court of Appeal ruling meant there was “no need for a speedy trial” and that “this is no longer an urgent case”.
Elana Kaymer, for Somani Hotels, said that the company planned to apply for a certificate of lawful use for the Bell Hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers, but said it would “welcome Epping reflecting and deciding whether other enforcement action would be more appropriate”.
Philip Coppel KC, for the council, said: “There is a need for a speedy trial because there is a continuing breach of planning control and the harm from that continues.”
In his ruling, Mr Justice Eyre said that the Home Office’s bid was “unusual” and that the Court of Appeal was “contemplating that matters would go forward quickly”.
EFDC issued legal proceedings against Somani Hotels last month, claiming it had breached planning rules, after the Bell became the focal point of several protests and counter-protests in recent weeks.
Mr Justice Eyre granted the council a temporary injunction on August 19, but Somani Hotels and the Home Office both challenged the ruling at the Court of Appeal.
Three senior judges overturned the block last week after finding that the decision to grant the interim injunction was “seriously flawed in principle”.
Following the Court of Appeal ruling, Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said the Government was committed to closing all asylum hotels by the end of this Parliament.
But she added that it appealed against the High Court ruling so that hotel use can be ended in a “controlled and orderly way”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said following the ruling that Sir Keir Starmer “puts the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British people”.
She also urged Tory councils to proceed with legal action over the use of hotels as accommodation for asylum seekers in their areas.
The Court of Appeal also refused EFDC’s bid to take the case to the Supreme Court earlier this week, but the authority could still ask the UK’s highest court directly for the green light to challenge the decision.
