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The Supreme Court has ruled that Epping Forest District Council cannot oppose the Home Office’s involvement in its failed attempt to prevent asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel. Earlier, the council had secured an emergency interim injunction in August to close the hotel to migrants and initially obtained a ruling barring the Home Office from intervening. However, this decision was later overturned by the Court of Appeal.
This latest Supreme Court ruling follows the council’s unsuccessful application for a permanent injunction, which was dismissed in November. The court explained its refusal by stating that the case “does not raise an arguable point of law of general public importance.” The Bell Hotel had become a hotspot for protests and counter-protests over the summer after an asylum seeker residing there was arrested, convicted, and deported for sexual assaults involving a teenage girl and a woman.
The council had maintained that the Court of Appeal was mistaken in allowing the Home Office’s intervention. Despite this, the Supreme Court, with Lord Reed, Lord Leggatt, and Lady Simler presiding, denied the council’s appeal on Monday. At the High Court, Mr Justice Mould rejected the council’s claim that accommodating asylum seekers at the hotel violated planning rules, stating that an injunction was “not an appropriate means of enforcing planning control.”
Legal arguments presented by the council contended that housing asylum seekers represented a “material change of use” that had sparked frequent protests. Meanwhile, lawyers representing the hotel owners, Somani Hotels, strongly disputed the council’s position, and the Home Office described the council’s claim as “misconceived.” After a vote by councillors, Epping Forest District Council announced plans to appeal the High Court ruling. Since April, the Bell Hotel has housed single adult males, with previous accommodation of asylum seekers occurring between May 2020 and March 2021, and again from October 2022 to April 2024. During this time, no enforcement actions were taken by the council. The hotel company had sought temporary planning permission in February 2023 but withdrew the application as it remained undecided by April 2024
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