Council to learn outcome of High Court bid to ban migrants from infamous Epping hotel
Epping Forest District Council is expected to discover the outcome of its High Court bid to ban asylum seekers from being housed at the infamous Bell Hotel today.
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The council is seeking an injunction stopping migrants from being accommodated at the Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Ltd.
The Essex council said it made the bid to avoid the "risk of further escalating community tensions".
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.
Read more: Robert Jenrick under fire over support for Epping asylym hotel protests
Read more: Migrant charged with sexually assaulting man living at hotel at centre of protests in Epping
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.