Asylum seekers can be housed at Epping’s Bell Hotel, judge rules
Labour accused of putting rights of illegal migrants above the rights of British citizens after council’s challenge rejected
Asylum seekers can continue to be housed in Epping’s Bell Hotel, the High Court has ruled.
The ruling follows anti-immigration protests and counter-demonstrations at the west Essex hotel, prompted by the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl by an asylum seeker.
Mr Justice Mould, a High Court judge, rejected Epping council’s objection to the housing of 138 asylum seekers by the Home Office at the hotel.
The local authority had claimed the hotel’s use for migrants breached planning law and had led to violent protests that were damaging community relations.
Hundreds of people mounted anti-immigration and counter-demonstrations at the Essex hotel after a 14-year-old girl from Epping was sexually assaulted by Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker who was jailed and mistakenly released before being deported.
Responding to the judgment through Shane Yerrel, an Epping councillor, the girl’s “devastated” father said he was “so angry”.
The judge found that the council had a “reasonable basis” to argue that the current use of the Bell Hotel required planning permission and was, therefore, a breach of planning rules. However, he rejected the council’s case that its use for asylum seekers was “a flagrant or persistent abuse of planning control”.
He said it was “not a case in which it is just and convenient for this court to grant an injunction”.
Epping council is now considering whether to appeal against the decision, while at least a dozen other councils are still threatening to take legal action to close asylum hotels in their areas. Figures for June, the most recent available, show more than 32,000 migrants are being housed in 200 hotels at a cost of £5.5m a day.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said it was a “dark day for local democracy”.
“Labour has once again used the courts to put the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British citizens,” he said.
“Their conduct is disgraceful. Children and women in Epping and many other towns will now continue to be at risk. Labour’s lawyers fought tooth and nail to keep this hotel open, even after a migrant housed there was jailed for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.”
Epping council said it was a “devastating decision for local democracy” where it had been “outgunned” by “an unholy alliance of lawyers for government and big business intent on protecting huge profits and an indefensible asylum policy”.
“Epping council has stood up for principles of local democracy. It has implications for everyone. If the government is determined to ride roughshod over local residents and planning laws whenever it is convenient, the outlook is bleak,” the council.
It will now consider whether to appeal against the decision.
The Telegraph: continue reading
Featured image: Sky News
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