Council announces new asylum hotel taskforce

A council has created a taskforce to work on its continued action against three hotels being used by the Home Office to house asylum seekers in the area.

West Northamptonshire Council previously said a possible breach of planning control had occurred at the hotels and it was considering legal enforcement action.

Mark Arnull, the leader of Reform UK-led authority, said the taskforce was to improve the council's position in "future action" against the hotels.

Arnull said the taskforce was a "significant step forward" for the authority.

In September the council issued planning contravention notices to the owners of the three hotels in the area which were housing asylum seekers.

The authority said in November that it remained "resolute" in its intention to take enforcement action despite a High Court decision against Epping District Council in a similar enforcement case.

The council said it had been "actively working through the complex legal process" of using planning enforcement powers and gathering evidence for its case since issuing the notices.

In a statement Arnull said: "The taskforce is a significant step forward as we pursue our case against the use of hotels housing asylum seekers, which continue to place an unreasonable strain on our already overstretched public services.

"It is important the council has strong evidence and has considered all legal opinion to ensure its chances of success in future action against these hotels."

Epping Forest District Council won an interim injunction to close The Bell Hotel in Epping to migrants in August, but it was overturned by the Court of Appeal.

He said the council had seen that seeking an injunction was "not the appropriate legal instrument" following the judgement in the case of The Bell Hotel and would instead follow "the correct planning process".

The government said the use of asylum hotel was temporary while it processed the large backlog of asylum seekers.

It said the numbers in hotel accommodation had halved over the last two years and it aimed to stop using hotels completely within the next four years.

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