Epping asylum hotel latest: Home Office wins appeal to house migrants at Epping Bell hotel

The Government has “let the residents of Epping down”, the leader of Epping Forest District Council has said.

Councillor Christopher Whitbread told PA: “We don’t want to see some violent scenes around the hotel or in the town itself that would that would only help the Government’s arguments, and it’s the Government that have let the residents of Epping down.

“I had numerous conversations with various people around this issue, the Home Office were not helpful.”

He said housing asylum seekers at the Bell Hotel was “not right” for residents of Epping or those living in the hotel itself, adding: “We made that argument to the previous government and eventually they closed it.

“This Government reopened it in April with no real consultation with us, they instructed us that they were going to use it.

“We were instructed on the numbers and such that they were prepared to use it up to, and really they have let down completely the residents of Epping Forest, and I think what underlined it was their legal argument yesterday around the ECHR and the fact that the asylum seekers trump the residents of Epping when it comes to their rights.”

Protesters have begun to gather outside the Bell Hotel in Epping after the Court of Appeal ruling.

A small number of demonstrators carrying England and Union flags have gathered outside the hotel, with police officers guarding its entrance – which is gated off with metal fencing.

An England flag has been attached to a drain pipe on the side of the Bell Hotel and England flags have also been painted onto signs and a speed camera outside the hotel.

Chris Whitbread, the leader of Epping Forest District Council, said the Home Office victory over the asylum hotel in Epping is “really bad news”, but he called for calm in the wake of the ruling.

“I’m just very deeply disappointed and it’s really bad news for the local residents of Epping”, he told Times Radio. “We saw yesterday the government say that asylum seekers have more rights than my residents. I’m really cross with this ruling.

“Obviously we’ll now reflect on where we are. Obviously we’re still going to court in October to go for a final injunction and we will be pushing hard to make sure that’s successful, but we will do everything we can still.”

He added: “I call for calm. There’s been peaceful protests and there’s been non peaceful protests outside the hotel. You saw that as part of our case. But I just call for residents to be calm. As their district council, we will do everything we can do but we do need people to be calm.

“This is an awful position for the town, for the students who go back to school next week, and for the residents and businesses who have been disrupted during the protests and such. So yeah, I’m really concerned for the future of the town at the moment.”

Epping Forest District Council will “continue to fight” the Government after the Court of Appeal ruling, a councillor has said.

Holly Whitbread said the ruling was “deeply disappointing”, adding she felt “utterly let down and betrayed by the Government”.

Ms Whitbread, who is finance and economic development portfolio holder for Epping Forest District Council, told the PA news agency: “The council will continue to fight this.

“We’re looking at our legal options now and we will be going ahead, I presume, with the permanent injunction in the October trial, if that’s still possible.”

The Conservative councillor added: “The council has always been against the use of this hotel in this location.

“One of the key points that wasn’t made clear in the court case was the change to all-male asylum seekers within the hotel.

“I’m pretty furious at the Government’s action to intervene in what was a legal planning matter. And I think this news will be deeply disappointing to the residents of Epping Forest and, more broadly, across the UK as well.”

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has accused the government of “using the courts against the British public”.

He added: “The government even brazenly said in court that the rights of illegal immigrants were more important than the rights of local people.”

He accused Labour of being “too weak” to take action over rising number of small boat crossings.

The home secretary had argued at the Court of Appeal that the Epping hotel injunction should not be allowed to stand because it would disrupt her statutory duty to house vulnerable asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.

The Court of Appeal operates independently from the Labour government.

Staffordshire County Council, which has previously threatened to bring similar legal action over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, has said today’s ruling “disregards the impact on communities and services across our county and the country”.

Ian Cooper, leader of the Reform-led council, added: “While the control and protection of our country’s borders is a national issue, we have made it clear to government that the ongoing use of hotels for the purpose of asylum is unacceptable and poses a risk to local communities as well as to those being housed in hotels.

“Community cohesion is a core priority for Staffordshire County Council and the continued use of these hotels threatens to undermine this goal.”

Nigel Farage has claimed the European Convention on Human Rights has been “used” by the Government “against the people of Epping”.

The Reform UK leader said: “The Government has used ECHR against the people of Epping. Illegal migrants have more rights than the British people under Starmer.”

He did not specify which part of the case he was referring to, and the Court of Appeal judge that overturned the temporary ban on housing asylum seekers in The Bell Hotel in Epping ruled that arguments about a “hierarchy of rights” were “unattractive”.

The Home Office’s lawyers had argued “the relevant public interests in play are not equal”, referring to Epping’s interest in enforcing planning control on the one hand, and the Home Secretary’s duty which comes from UK obligations under the ECHR on the other.

However, Friday’s ruling says: “Any argument in this particular context about a hierarchy of rights is in our view unattractive.”

Epping Forest District Council have said their fight will continue after the Court of Appeal overturned an injunction banning asylum seekers from being housed at a hotel in the area.

In a statement issued following the ruling, the council said: “We are deeply disappointed by the outcome of today’s hearing.

“While Epping Forest has brought the wider asylum seeker debate into sharp national focus, the concern and motivation of Epping Forest District Council throughout has been the wellbeing of our local residents. Where we had clarity and resolution, we now have doubt and confusion.”

They added: “This is not the end of the matter. While the Court of Appeal has lifted the temporary injunction, the case for the final injunction is still to be heard. Our battle on behalf of our residents will continue. A few weeks from now we will be back in court where we trust the strength of our case will still prevail.”

They urged the government to “take responsibility for the events that have taken place in Epping over the past six weeks – for the trauma and disruption brought upon our community”.

Following the Court of Appeal’s decision, Dame Angela Eagle MP, Minister for Border Security and Asylum has said that the government “will close all hotels by the end of this parliament”.

She explained: “We appealed this judgment so hotels like the Bell can be exited in a controlled and orderly way that avoids the chaos of recent years that saw 400 hotels open at a cost of £9m a day.

“The number of hotels has almost halved since its peak in 2023 and we have brought down costs by 15 per cent saving £700m and putting us on track to save a billion pounds a year by 2028-29.”

She added that the department was “working hard to relieve pressure on the system” by tackling criminal gangs who facilitate small boat crossings.