Asylum seekers are set to be moved out of a protest-hit hotel in Epping after a judge temporarily blocked them from being housed there.
Epping Forest District Council won an interim High Court injunction to stop asylum seekers being housed at The Bell Hotel, arguing it had become a “feeding ground for unrest” in recent weeks after a series of violent protests resulted in multiple arrests and saw police officers injured.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper made a last-minute attempt on Tuesday to halt their removal, arguing that other councils would make similar applications for migrant accommodation in their areas.
However, Mr Justice Eyre dismissed her application and has given the council until 12 September to move asylum seekers out of the hotel. Somani Hotels Limited, which runs the hotel, can apply to the Court of Appeal to try to reverse the decision.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp described the ruling as “a moment of relief for the people of Epping”, while Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said it was “a victory for the mums and dads” in the local area, “who just want their children to be safe”.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Eyre agreed with the council’s argument that The Bell is no longer a hotel, and as such it “no longer provides a resource for dining, receptions, functions and the like”. As a result, the council had a case to argue that there had been a breach of planning control, Mr Justice Eyre found.
Philip Coppel KC had argued that there had been a “material change of use” at the site, with the hotel owner failing to apply to the council for permission to alter its use. Somani Hotels Ltd argued there had been no material change.
Edward Brown KC, for the Home Office, said that “shortage of asylum accommodation is acute” and warned that if Epping’s bid was successful, “There could be similar applications made elsewhere, aggravating the pressures on the asylum estate.”
Mr Brown KC said the court had not fully considered the wider impacts of the council’s application on the duty of the Home Office to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.
In submissions to court, the Home Office argued that the injunction would “substantially interfere” with Ms Cooper’s ability to house asylum seekers, warning: “This is not an abstract risk. There are very considerable constraints on available asylum accommodation.”
Mr Coppel KC, for the council, said the last-minute intervention was a “thoroughly unprincipled application”. “Its effect is to derail the court process, to upend the court’s delivery of your judgment,” he told the judge.
“It’s not enough to say we’ve got a problem, or a demand, without saying what’s on the other side to accommodate that demand,” Mr Coppel added. He argued that asylum seekers could be moved out of the hotel “comfortably” within a fortnight, adding: “If they can go in, they can go out.”
Mr Justice Eyre refused the Home Office’s application, saying it would waste “further court time”.
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Chris Whitbread, leader of the council, said: “This is a decision that’s important to Epping Forest, but also important to other councils up and down the country, and it shows that the government cannot ignore planning rules, just like no one else can ignore planning rules.”
He asked the community to remain peaceful and calm outside the hotel, urging: “What I call upon the residents tonight is if they decide to go outside The Bell Hotel, don’t protest, don’t over-celebrate. This is the beginning. It is not the end.”
The High Court heard last week that the hotel had become a “feeding ground for unrest”, with the council arguing that allowing asylum seekers to stay in the accommodation was “a danger to school-age students about to start the new school year”.
Protesters have been demonstrating at the site for weeks after an asylum seeker was charged with sexual assault for allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
A second man has also been charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a man aged over 16, as well as a number of assault charges.
Mr Coppel KC said that the hotel use was “a very serious problem” which was “getting out of hand”.
Somani Hotels Ltd told the court that an injunction would cause asylum seekers “hardship” and that the move would set “a dangerous precedent that protests justify planning injunctions”.
More than 100 women’s rights groups also warned on Tuesday that “vital conversations” about violence towards women and girls were being “hijacked by an anti-migrant agenda”.
In a joint statement, groups including Rape Crisis England and Wales and Refuge said that they were alarmed by comments made by politicians in recent weeks that had reinforced “the damaging myth that the greatest risk of gender-based violence comes from strangers”.
