Council to discover outcome of court bid to block asylum seekers from hotel
Epping Forest District Council is seeking an injunction stopping migrants from being housed at the Bell Hotel
A council is expected to find out on today (August 19) if it has been successful in a High Court bid to temporarily block asylum seekers from being housed at an Essex hotel.
Epping Forest District Council is seeking an injunction stopping migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Ltd.
The legal action follows a series of protests in recent weeks outside the site after an asylum seeker who was housed at the hotel was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
At a hearing on Friday, barristers for the council claimed Somani Hotels breached planning rules as the site is not being used for its intended purpose as a hotel, and that the situation "could not be much worse".
The injunction sought by the authority, if granted, would require the company to stop housing asylum seekers at the hotel within 14 days.
The council argued that it wanted the restrictions in place before the school summer holidays ended.
Barristers for the company said the "draconian" move would cause "hardship" for those inside the hotel, and that "political views" were not grounds for an injunction to be granted.
They also said that contracts to house asylum seekers were a "financial lifeline" for the hotel, which was only 1% full in August 2022, when it was open to paying customers.
Mr Justice Eyre is expected to rule on whether or not to grant the temporary injunction at 2pm on Tuesday.
At the end of the hearing last week, he ordered that Somani Hotels could not "accept any new applications" from asylum seekers to stay at the site until he had given a decision.
The hotel has become the focal point of a series of protests after Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl.
Kebatu, who was housed at the hotel at the time of the incident, denies the allegations and is due to stand trial later this month.