Asylum hotels: Another Labour council weighs options for planning law action

Another Labour-run council is weighing up its options for using planning law to stop a local hotel housing asylum seekers in the wake of the Epping High Court judgement, in a further potential blow to the Home Office.

Stevenage Borough Council in Hertfordshire had already reportedly warned the owners of one local hotel it could take planning enforcement action in June, before this week’s court ruling prompted speculation of a wave of local authority-led legal challenges.

Council officials are said to have written questioning the hotel’s compliance with planning law, namely whether housing asylum seekers made it a hostel not a hotel – which would need separate permission.

Neither the council or hotel operators appear to have said anything publicly on the matter since the letter was sent more than two months ago, however, despite the council reportedly giving the operators a deadline to respond.

READ MORE: Asylum and bills: How Labour quietly lost Stevenage Woman – and won her back

But after this week’s court ruling that an ex-hotel in Epping should stop being used for asylum seeker accommodation, Stevenage council has now issued a statement.

It reads: “The council takes breaches of planning control seriously and we’re actively investigating alleged breaches relating to the operation of hotels in Stevenage. We are studying the Epping and Somani Hotels Judgement closely to determine the implications this has for our own investigations.

“It is important that the council gathers all the facts before reaching any conclusion about the appropriate course of action it takes; this work is continuing at pace.”

The owners of the hotel, which operates under the Novotel brand but is run by Fairview Hotels, declined to comment to local paper The Comet at the time, and when LabourList contacted Stevenage’s Novotel hotel directly today, a staff member said no-one was available and to contact the council.

Sky News reports that border security minister Dame Angela Eagle said in response to the High Court ruling that the government will “continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns”. She added: “Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.”

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It comes after the leader of Labour-run Wirral council in north-west England said yesterday it was “actively considering all options available to us to ensure that any use of hotels or other premises in Wirral is lawful and does not ride roughshod over planning regulations or the wishes of our communities.”

Meanwhile Tamworth council’s Labour leader Carol Dean said it was “reviewing our legal position”.

LabourList recently reported in depth on how Stevenage Labour’s campaigning around the hotel enforcement action helped it to achieve a remarkable turnaround in its electoral fortunes in one of Stevenage’s most deprived wards.

Two Stevenage hotels used for asylum seekers have prompted widespread complaints and allegations across the town, starting long before protests and violence in Epping lurched asylum hotels back into current headlines.

Local Labour figures said the hotels helped Reform take the once-solidly red Bedwell ward in May’s county council electios. Anger also played into wider frustrations over housing. The local authority’s decision last year to cut almost 2,500 households from its social housing waiting list proved particularly damaging.

READ MORE: Immigration white paper: Starmer has the authenticity issue Miliband once had

Yet Labour won a borough by-election eight weeks later in the same area, with Bedwell the only one of five Labour seats the party held onto in by-elections that day across the country.

One activist told LabourList there were targeted letters and canvassing for “people we thought would react most positively to the news” of the planning letter sent to the hotel.

The notable turnaround has attracted interest from Labour politicians beyond the area. A bellwether since 1970, Stevenage’s population is so typical of red-blue marginals that the Starmerite think tank Labour Together dubbed “Stevenage Woman” Labour’s key target voter at last year’s general election.

New statistics out today provide a further political headache for the government, showing an 8% rise year-on-year in asylum seekers housed in hotels, a record high number of asylum claims and a 38% rise in small boat arrivals.

But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in response to the figures: “We inherited a broken immigration and asylum system that the previous Government left in chaos.

 “The action we have taken in the last 12 months – increasing returns of failed asylum seekers by over 30%, cutting asylum costs by 11%, reducing the backlog by 18% and our forthcoming plans to overhaul the failing asylum appeal system – are crucial steps to restoring order, and putting an end to the chaotic use of asylum hotels that we inherited from the previous government.

 “At the same time, we are bringing legal migration back under control, with a 48% reduction in work visas this year – and further stronger visa controls and higher skill requirements introduced through our White Paper expected to bring those overall numbers down further.”

The Home Office was also approached for comment.

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