Action called for on asylum hotels
West Northamptonshire Council has written to the Home Office
Last updated 17th Dec 2025
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has today given the Home Office a 21-day deadline to provide information about the use of three local asylum hotels, looking towards its next steps in the planning enforcement process.
This comes as local MPs have demanded that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage correct the record and apologise for “inadvertently misleading the house”, after his claim last month in the House of Commons that WNC would be sending out ‘foreclosure notices’ to local asylum hotels “in the next few days” was disputed by a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The council confirmed that it had only issued Planning Contravention Notices to the owners of the three hotels in September and has since been working through the complex legal process for using formal planning enforcement powers. The FOI request to the authority also confirmed that “no formal enforcement Notices have been served requiring the cessation of any use at the three hotels mentioned”.
WNC recently put together a taskforce of senior officers to progress its action against the use of three hotels in the area being used for asylum accommodation and investigate whether a breach of planning control has occurred.
The Council has now written to the Home Office, in line with its planning enforcement protocol, to request information about their current and future requirements following legal advice and support. This follows on from the Appeal Court ruling, which clearly points to the need for the Home Office to provide information to ensure a robust process.
Councillor Mark Arnull, Leader of the Council, said: “We remain committed to pursuing our case against the use of these hotels for housing asylum seekers on behalf of our residents, who share our concerns about the unreasonable strain they are placing on our local communities.
“This letter to the Home Office is the latest step in the correct planning process and they have 21 days to respond to us with the information we require clarifying their use of these hotels. Whilst we wait their response, we will continue our work on building a robust legal case.”
Addressing Farage’s previous claims that WNC was poised to send enforcement notices “within the next few days”, South Northants MP Sarah Bool said in Commons on Monday (December 15): “I asked the member for Clacton to correct the record and apologise for inadvertently misleading the house, but I’ve received no response.
“Members of the public should be able to trust what is said in this place.”
The issue was previously raised by the leader of the Conservative group on West Northants Council, Cllr Daniel Lister, who asked Cllr Arnull at a full council meeting in November what he told Farage “that led him to get facts so wrong” and what had been done to “set the record straight”. He said he received no response to his questions.
He has since told the LDRS: “The leader of their party misrepresented this council’s legal position in Parliament, falsely claiming we were about to issue foreclosure notices when we were actually still seeking legal advice.
“These weren’t minor errors: these were specific false claims made on the floor of Parliament. What conversations between the local Reform leader and Nigel Farage led to these inaccuracies?
“Did they knowingly mislead Parliament together, or was misinformation passed along? What are they trying to hide, and why are they both refusing to correct the public record?”
In response, a Reform UK spokesman called the request to correct the record “a petty point of order”. However, they did not respond to the questions about whether Nigel Farage would be correcting the record on the fact that no enforcement notices were sent by West Northants Council in the days after his declaration.
They added: “The Reform UK administration in West Northamptonshire is getting on with the job of closing these hotels.
“They have already issued planning contravention notices, established a dedicated taskforce to pursue legal action, and today they are directly challenging the Home Office over its unlawful use of these buildings as they continue to build a robust legal case.”
Nigel Farage has also been contacted for comment.