Bell Hotel can house asylum seekers, High Court judge rules

Asylum seekers can continue to be housed in the Bell Hotel in Essex after Epping Forest District Council failed to secure a High Court injunction that would block them from living there.

The council took legal action against the hotel owner, Somani Hotels, claiming that accommodating asylum seekers there breaches planning rules.

Lawyers for Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) said the housing of asylum seekers is a “material change of use” and has caused “increasingly regular protests”.

The Home Office intervened in the case, telling the court the council’s bid was “misconceived”.

Mr Justice Mould dismissed the claim on Tuesday and said in a judgment that it is “not a case in which it is just and convenient for this court to grant an injunction”.

EFDC were granted a temporary injunction earlier this year following protests outside the hotel, which would have stopped 138 asylum seekers being housed there beyond September 12.

But this was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August, which found the decision to be “seriously flawed in principle”.

EFDC then sought a permanent injunction through a three-day hearing last month.

Mr Justice Mould said: “I give due respect to the claimant’s judgment that the current use of the Bell as contingency accommodation for asylum seekers constitutes a material change in the use of those premises, which requires planning permission.

“Nevertheless, I have not been persuaded that an injunction is a commensurate response to that postulated breach of planning control.

“The breach is far from being flagrant. Conventional methods of enforcement have not been taken.

“Taking a broad view, the degree of planning and environmental harm resulting from the current use of the Bell is limited.

“The continuing need for hotels as an important element of the supply of contingency accommodation to house asylum seekers in order to enable the Home Secretary to discharge her statutory responsibilities is a significant counterbalancing factor.”

The Bell Hotel became the subject of protests in the summer after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Epping in July.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incident, was jailed for 12 months in September.

He was later mistakenly released from prison and re-detained.

Mr Justice Mould said: “The claimant’s desire to find a swift resolution to the disruption to public order and the community tensions which followed the outbreak of street protests on 11 July 2025 was reasonable.

“It does not however follow that the solution lay in an application for an injunction.”

He continued: “Public opposition to the development of land, even if that opposition manifests itself in street protests, is not in itself evidence of planning or environmental harm generated by the development to which there is such strong objection.”

The Bell Hotel first housed asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021, a previous hearing was told.

It reopened as a hotel for three months in August 2022 but returned to housing asylum seekers after seeing demand “greatly reduced”, lawyers for Somani said.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said after the judge’s decision that it is “a dark day for democracy and a slap in the face to the people of Epping”.

He continued: “A Labour Government has once again put the rights of illegal immigrants above the rights of British citizens.

“The people of Epping have been silenced in their own town.

“Their council fought for them, their voices were ignored.

“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.”

A Labour source said in response: “This is some brass neck from Chris Philp.

“If he wants to understand why there are so many asylum seekers in hotels, I suggest he casts his mind back to his time in the Home Office. He was the one opening all these hotels.

“Or perhaps he could ask why the shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, bragged about “ramping up” their use. The Tories opened these hotels. This Labour Government will close them.”

Mr Justice Mould said that as of the beginning of September, there were more than 112,000 individuals receiving accommodation support, 35,000 of which were in hotels.

He also said that by the end of that month, under 200 hotels were being used for that purpose, down from over 400 two years previously.

Councillor Ken Williamson, of EFDC, said in response to the judgment: “From the very beginning, our only motive has been to protect and defend the interests of our residents.

“We knew the Home Office would not like it, but it was important to stand up for our residents. Local people must have some control over local decisions.”

He continued: “The Home Secretary can still reconsider.

“The trauma and disruption experienced by Epping residents and especially the victims and their families at the heart of all this is unacceptable.

“The asylum system is broken. Fix the real problem. Close the hotels now.

“We are bitterly disappointed. We have pushed as hard as we can and punched well above our weight.

“It is a sad day, but we will take this judgment back to our councillors. Together we will decide what happens next.”

Enver Solomon, chief executive at the Refugee Council, said the Government needs to take a different approach towards ensuring all hotels are closed next year and described plans to house people in military sites as “unsuitable, isolating” and “expensive”.

He said: “A realistic solution would be for the Government to grant temporary permission to stay for people from countries where we know most asylum applications succeed, subject to rigorous security checks.

“This could end the use of costly asylum hotels next year and the Government could get on with ensuring our asylum system works fairly and efficiently.

“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.”

Following the ruling, a Home Office spokesperson said: “We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels in this country.

“This Government will close every asylum hotel. Work is well underway to move asylum seekers into more suitable accommodation such as military bases, to ease pressure on communities across the country.

“We are working to do so as swiftly as possible as part of an orderly, planned and sustained programme. This judgment allows us to do that.”