Council threatens Home Office with judicial review after third hotel used to house asylum seekers
Torbay Council has issued a second pre-proceedings letter for a judicial review of the Home Office's plan to block-book a third hotel in the area in order to accommodate asylum seekers.
The local authority said it is advancing three grounds of argument, including that it had a legitimate expectation from the Home Office that no further hotels would be used in the area.
According to the council, information that a third hotel - the second in Torquay - would be used was not received from the Home Office or from its contractors.
After being made aware of the plan, the council sent a pre-proceedings letter to the Home Office requesting that a third hotel is not brought into operation until the Home Office responded and the council had the opportunity to consider the response.
Upon receiving the Government's response, Torbay said it would not apply for an interim injunction against the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers but would instead issue instructions to seek a judicial review of the decision of the Home Secretary to use the hotels in Torquay as accommodation for asylum seekers.
The council is seeking a judicial review on the following three grounds:
- The council had a legitimate expectation from the Home Office that no further hotels would be used in the Torbay area.
- The Home Office failed to consider the planning position, in particular the location of the hotel(s) within a Core Tourism Investment Area.
- The Home Office failed to consider the significant impact on Children's Services caused by the use of the existing hotel for accommodating asylum seekers.
Kevin Mowat, Deputy Chief Executive at Torbay Council, said: "On the morning of 15 November, we received confirmation from [the Home Office's contractor] that due diligence on a third hotel had been completed and that they proposed to go live with it today. We have since had notification that the use of the hotel is being paused whilst a decision of the Home Office is awaited.
"We are continuing to work with [the Home Office's contractor] and their managers within the two hotels in operation to ensure appropriate support is in place for those currently staying at the hotels. We will also continue to ask questions and to inform the Home Office about the impact that these hotels are having on our services and the Bay."
The Home Office has been placing asylum seekers in hotels across the country following record numbers arriving in the UK by boat this year.
The policy led six councils to seek interim injunctions blocking the use of hotels as accommodation for asylum seekers.
Of the six, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Great Yarmouth Borough Council, and Stoke-on-Trent City Council were all granted 'without notice' interim injunctions. However, an application by East Riding and Ipswich to have their interim injunctions extended was refused by Holgate J in the High Court last week. Stoke's bid to extend the interim injunction had already been rejected by Mr Justice Linden.
The remaining two councils are Fenland District Council and North Northamptonshire Council. Fenland is awaiting a hearing, while North Northamptonshire's application for a 'without notice' injunction was refused.
A number of other councils who said they were considering seeking injunctions decided to abandon their plans following Holgate J's decision, including Colchester Borough Council, West Northamptonshire Council, and Conwy County Borough Council.
Adam Carey
