Asylum seekers can continue living in the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, a High Court judge ruled today.
The local council took legal action against owner Somani Hotels, claiming that the hotel is breaching planning permissions.
Somani Hotels opposed the claim, telling a London court last month that accommodating asylum seekers is not a ‘material change of use’.
The Home Office intervened in the closely-watched case, which has come to symbolise the polarising debate over immigration in the UK.
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Justice Mould dismissed the claim, saying it was ‘not an appropriate means of enforcing planning control’.
The hotel became the centre of heated and at times violent anti-immigration protests over the summer after an asylum seeker staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was jailed for a year in September before being mistakenly freed and placed back behind bars.
Far-right groups tore through Eppig for weeks, clashing with police and ending with 23 people arrested.
Outside the hotel this afternoon, police have formed a ring of steel as locals are expected to protest the court ruling.
Passing drivers have shouted, ‘you c***ts’, while mum Sandra Small, 54, said the decision was ‘heartbreaking’.
‘There’s no consideration for us. There’s been sex attacks and god knows what else but still they’ve kept it open,’ she told Metro.
Ryan Pollard, 45, said he was ‘very angry’.
The plumber said: ‘I can’t say it’s a surprise, they’ve never been on our side. If they closed this one, I think they’d have to close all of them.
‘That would cause too many problems across the country. Epping would be the test case. It’s still an awful decision, though.’
A judge granted the council a temporary injunction that would have stopped 138 asylum seekers from being housed there beyond September.
The Court of Appeal overturned this in August, ruling it was ‘seriously flawed in principle’ and hotel bosses did not need planning permission.
While council officials want a permanent injunction, the appeal court said to do so would mean asylum seekers would need to be re-housed.
The government must provide accommodation for asylum applicants who would otherwise be homeless and who are mostly prevented from working.
Some 200 hotels, once used only in emergencies, now house 32,000 asylum seekers. They are staying there until officials determine if their claim is valid.
The Bell first began housing asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021 and again from October 2022 to April 2024 – the council took no action.
Other councils are considering blocking hotel owners from accommodating asylum seekers, most led by Reform UK councillors.
Enver Solomon, chief executive at the Refugee Council, told Metro that while the government won today, the threat of hotel closures hasn’t vanished.
‘Plans to warehouse people in military barracks or other large sites are not a viable or humane solution,’ Solomon said.
‘They are unsuitable, isolating, and the government’s own spending watchdog has found them to be more expensive than hotels.’
She added: ‘Hotels are not an appropriate long-term solution to housing people seeking asylum.
‘They are flashpoints for community division, cost the taxpayer billions, and leave people who are fleeing persecution and violence in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan in limbo, unable to work or get their children into consistent education.’
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