Council to seek appeal against High Court ruling over Epping asylum hotel

Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) will seek to appeal against the High Court ruling that dismissed their bid to stop the Bell Hotel in Essex from housing asylum seekers.

The local authority will continue with legal action after councillors voted on the move on Wednesday.

A council statement said: “Having heard all the arguments, Epping Forest District Council has voted to proceed to the next stage of the appeals process following a full council debate.

“The council will continue to take legal advice at each stage of the appeals process and remains committed to the closure of the Bell Hotel.”

The extraordinary meeting was held in private to allow councillors to discuss the authority’s legal position.

It comes after a High Court judge dismissed the council’s case against hotel owner, Somani Hotels, claiming that housing asylum seekers there was a breach of planning rules.

But Mr Justice Mould 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 was granted a temporary injunction earlier this year following protests outside the hotel, which would have stopped 138 asylum seekers from 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, which was rejected.

To appeal against the decision, the council will first need to be granted permission to appeal before the authority can continue with the legal challenge.

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

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was sentenced to 12 months in prison in September, before being mistakenly released from jail and has since been deported.

Meanwhile, the Epping council is also exploring other planning enforcement options that it could take against Somani Hotels over any alleged breach of planning rules at the Bell Hotel.