Philip Coppel KC and Natasha Peter secure interim injunction for Epping Forest Council over use of Bell Hotel for asylum seeker accommodation
Public Law and Judicial Review, Planning and Environment, Local Government
Epping Forest District Council has secured an interim injunction requiring the owners of the Bell Hotel to stop within the next 23 days using, or permitting the use of, that “hotel” for accommodating asylum seekers. The Secretary of State failed in her application to intervene in the proceedings, and was ordered to pay the Council’s costs.
Background of the case
The Council is the local planning authority for the area in which the Bell Hotel is located. The owner stopped using it as a hotel for paying guests shortly before 2020. That was the only lawful use of the building. Thereafter the owner had sporadically been contracting to allow it to be used for housing asylum seekers. At one time the owner had sought to regularise this by applying for planning permission for a temporary change of use, but that application was withdrawn. The current intake of asylum seekers began early in 2025 and was the catalyst for protests. There was also criminal activity, the alleged source of which was those placed at the accommodation.
On 11 August 2025, the Council applied under s.187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 for an injunction to stop the use of the Bell Hotel for accommodating asylum seekers, also making an application for an interim injunction in the same terms. Mr Justice Eyre granted the interim injunction.
Breach of planning control
In the course of his judgment, the Judge observed that the Council’s point that “the Bell [Hotel] is not a hotel for those who are placed there” was a powerful one. There was, he said, sufficient evidence that there had been a material change of use and thus a breach of planning control. The balance of convenience took into account the public interest in enforcing planning control and the loss of amenity of local residents, which the Judge held outweighed the public interest in the accommodation of destitute asylum seekers.
The Judge rejected the applications of both the Defendant and the Secretary of State to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
- Philip Coppel KC and Natasha Peter of Cornerstone Barristers represented Epping Forest District Council.
- Piers Riley-Smith represented the Defendant owner of the Bell Hotel.
- Edward Brown KC and Katharine Elliot represented the Secretary of State for the Home Department.
If you are a local authority seeking legal advice on planning enforcement or injunctions in similar circumstances, please contact our Senior Practice Manager Daniel Gatt on 020 7421 1807 or via email on: DGatt@cornerstonebarristers.com
