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asylum seekers can live on Protest-affected hotel in Epping after a high court The judge refused to order the local council to stop the migrants from living there.
Epping Forest District Council took legal action against Somany Hotels, which owns The Bell Hotel in Essex, claiming they were breaching planning rules by housing asylum seekers on the site.
The hotel became the site of a series of protests over the summer following the stay of an expatriate, Hadush Kebatu, Sexually harassed a woman and a 14 year old girl,
The local council tried to ban migrants from staying at the hotel, telling the High Court that it had become a “hotbed of unrest and protest”.
The council was initially granted a temporary injunction, which would have prevented the 138 asylum seekers from staying at the hotel after 12 September. After this decision, there was a danger of chaos in the asylum policy of the government. More councils said they would try and seek Equal veto.
Although the prohibition was then Overturned by the Court of Appealwhich found the decision to be “seriously flawed in principle”.
High Court judge Mr Justice Mold has now ruled that asylum seekers should be able to stay in hotels, saying it is the job of the police to manage any safety concerns in the local area.
In a judgment handed down on Tuesday, Mr Justice Mold said the use of the hotel to house asylum seekers was not a gross breach of planning controls. He said he had heard “no evidence” to support concerns that the use of The Bell to house asylum seekers is putting pressure on local GPs, health, social or community services.
Mr Justice Mold added: “There is no evidentiary basis for the claim that asylum seekers as a group are more likely than settled people to engage in criminal or anti-social behaviour”.
They stated that there was clearly “a continuing need for provision of casual accommodation from hotels for asylum seekers”, and concluded that “the planning and environmental damage resulting from the current use of The Bell is limited”.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philip said on Twitter that the decision was “a dark day for local democracy and a slap in the face to the people of Epping”. he claimed: “Labor Party has once again formed the government. The courts were used to put the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British citizens.
A Labor source hit back: “That’s some brilliant stuff from Chris Phillips. If he wants to understand why there are so many asylum seekers in hotels, I suggest he remembers his time in the Home Office. He was the guy who opened all these hotels.”
Councilor Ken Williamson at Epping Forest District Council said he was “extremely disappointed” by the decision. He said: “We won the moral and ethical arguments, but we lost to larger and more powerful interests.
“In the interests of political expediency, the Home Secretary can now ignore planning law, the concerns of local councils and their residents.”
Mr Williamson said the council had fought “an unholy coalition of government and big business lawyers intent on protecting huge profits and an unsustainable asylum policy”.
The Home Office intervened in the case, arguing that asylum seekers should be allowed to stay in hotels, telling the court that granting Epping an injunction “essentially encourages” other councils that want to close migrant hotels in their areas to take legal action.
Becca Jones, director of asylum assistance, said the loss of bed space at the Bell Hotel would be “significant” amid the increased movement of small boats.
The Essex hotel became the focus of protests over the summer after Ethiopian national Haddush Kebatu was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. He was jailed for 12 months in September and accidentally released from prison and taken into custody again,
Another asylum seeker who lived in the hotel, Syrian citizen Mohammed SharwarkHe was also jailed for 16 weeks in September after admitting attacking two fellow residents and two members of staff at the site.
A third resident was arrested in April for the alleged crime of arson. In his judgment on Tuesday, Mr Justice Mold said the planned harm caused by these actions or alleged actions “should not be overstated”.
Responding to the decision, Enver Solomon, chief executive of the charity Refugee Council, urged the government to ensure that all asylum hotels are closed next year. He added: “Plans to store people in military barracks or other large spaces are not a viable or humane solution. They are unsuitable, isolating, and the government’s own spending watchdog has found them to be more expensive than hotels.”
Steve Smith, CEO of the charity Care4Calais, said that residents of The Bell “have faced racist abuse and threats of physical violence”, adding: “Now that we have today’s judgment, we call on the Home Office to step up and take action on the claims of all those left behind at The Bell.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are angry at the levels of illegal immigrants and asylum hotels in this country. This government will close every asylum hotel. Work is underway to transfer asylum seekers to more suitable accommodation such as military bases to reduce pressure on communities across the country.”