Council seeks High Court ban on migrants being housed at infamous Epping hotel
Epping Forest District Council is seeking a High Court ban on asylum seekers at the infamous Bell Hotel to avoid the "risk of further escalating community tensions".
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The council applied for a High Court injunction which would ban the use of the hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers.
The hotel was at the centre of a string of anti-immigration protests earlier this month after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexual assault for allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
The council has stressed the urgency of High Court action as community tensions remain at boiling point despite protests being centred elsewhere.
Councillor Chris Whitbread, Leader of Epping Forest District Council, said: “The current situation cannot go on. If the Bell Hotel was a nightclub we could have closed it down long ago.
"So far as the Council is aware, there is no criminal record checking of individuals who might only have been in the country a matter of days before being housed at the hotel. There are five schools and a residential care home within the vicinity of the hotel.
Read more: Tensions remain high in Epping as immigration protests return amid fears of another summer of unrest
"The use by the Home Office of the premises for asylum seekers poses a clear risk of further escalating community tensions already at a high, and the risk of irreparable harm to the local community. This will only increase with the start of the new school year.
"We are frustrated that the Home Office continues not to listen.In our view placing asylum seekers in the Bell hotel is a clear breach of planning permission.
"It is not in use as a hotel, and it doesn’t function as a hotel. The establishment of a centre to accommodate asylum seekers in this particular location, in close proximity to five schools, a residential care home, and the shops and amenities of the market town of Epping is not appropriate in planning terms.”
The council said it is taking legal action following unprecedented levels of protest and disruption and a series of arrests connected to the hotel.
Extra police officers have been drafted in from other forces as a result after Essex police were placed under severe pressure, the council added.
Councillors voted unanimously at a recent meeting to call on the Home Office to immediately close the hotel.
They also called for a phased closure of the Phoenix Hotel in North Weald, but said they have so far received no response from the government.
Councillor Whitbread said: “We are doing this on behalf of our local community. We are a small district council. We have tried to help the Home Office see the situation cannot go on, but central government is not listening.
"We should not have to take this fight to the High Court, but we are left with no choice. It is now up to the judge.”