Portland incinerator: Defra refuses council plea to intervene
The proposed energy recovery facility, planned for land on Portland Port, was given the go-ahead by the government in September, despite initially being refused by Dorset Council.The Stop Portland Waste Incinerator (SPWI) group applied to the High Court for a statutory review of the decision, which was granted in December.
Mr Ireland had written to Environment Secretary Steve Reed, urging Defra to instruct the Environment Agency to pause its determination of environmental permits for the scheme.In her response to Mr Ireland, the junior minister said: "Regarding the granting of planning permission for the Powerfuel Portland incinerator, I understand that since you wrote, a claim for judicial review of that process has been listed for hearing by the High Court."Furthermore, as planning decisions are a quasi-judicial process, it is not appropriate for Defra to comment on the decision to grant planning permission consent for any proposed facility."She added that decisions about the plant's location were a planning matter and not connected to the Environment Agency's remit.Mr Ireland said: "This is another disappointing response from the government that fails to address the core points raised - most importantly, how they can justify granting permission for a facility that will, most likely, not adhere to their own newly tightened rules regarding future waste incineration."
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44 minutes ago
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'Wherever people are concerned about the threat posed by young undocumented males living in local hotels and who are free to walk their streets, they should follow the example of the town in Essex. 'Let's hold peaceful protests outside the migrant hotels, and put pressure on local councils to go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out; we now know that together we can win.' The new junction means that the hotel's owner, Somani Hotels Limited, must stop housing asylum seekers at the site by September 12. It came after the Home Office unsuccessfully attempted to block the legal challenge, claiming its closure would cause 'acute difficulties' and breach asylum seekers' 'fundamental human rights'. The decision was also welcomed by jubilant locals who were pictured opening bottles of Prosecco outside The Bell Hotel. Mother Sarah White, 40, one of the protest organisers, said the news was 'amazing'. She said: 'This is great news - it is fantastic. This is not just for Epping but the rest of the country. Hopefully this is the sign of things to come. 'I really do hope they do not put these people in houses of multiple occupancy within our community now. 'That would be a kick in the face and we would fight it. 'But today's news is really positive. Families and women will be able to sleep easier at night knowing they will not be there. 'It's been a disgrace we have had to fight like this.' Sarah said they would be talking to other towns where migrant hotels are. She added: 'We will start protesting with towns up and down the country. We are standing shoulder to shoulder with them as well. 'We want to show this is bigger than Epping, it is impacting the whole country.' Maureen Chapman, 73, has lived in Epping for 50 years and said she felt 'under threat' by the hotel being there. Yesterday she said: 'This has restored my faith in humanity. It has restored my faith in common sense. 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He added: 'This is only the start of a process and subject to appeal, we recognise that, but all things being equal, the Bell Hotel will be empty by September 12, and that's really important for the students, residents, businesses of Epping Forest.' Addressing local residents, he went on: 'If they decide to go outside the Bell Hotel, don't protest, don't over-celebrate. This is the beginning. It is not the end.' The Home Office had not been represented at a previous hearing in the case on Friday. But yesterday the department asked to be allowed to intervene Mr Justice Eyre was due to hand down his ruling on whether the injunction should be granted. Philip Coppel KC, for Epping Forest District Council, said the Home Office's request was 'a thoroughly unprincipled application made in a thoroughly unprincipled way'. He added that the department knew of the injunction bid last week but 'sat on their hands'. It comes after a series of protests in recent weeks outside the hotel. A resident at the hotel, Hadush Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, was charged with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity. The incidents allegedly happened within two days, just over a week after the 41-year-old arrived in the UK by boat. Raphael Pigott, defending, told a hearing at Colchester magistrates' court on July 17: 'I believe he is here as a refugee or asylum seeker, and that he arrived informally on a boat.' It is alleged Mr Kebatu tried to kiss a schoolgirl as she ate pizza near a busy high street, and the next day attempted to kiss an adult near a fish and chip shop in the town centre, telling her she was 'pretty' while putting his hand on her leg. He then encountered the girl again and tried to kiss her, a court was told. Mr Kebatu has denied the offences and is in custody. A second man who resides at the hotel, Syrian national Mohammed Sharwarq, has separately been charged with seven offences. 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Piers Riley-Smith, representing Somani Hotels, said the alleged planning breach was 'not flagrant', and that it was 'entirely wrong' for the council to 'suggest the use has been hidden from them'. The barrister told the court that the hotel previously housed asylum seekers from 2020 to 2021, and from 2022 to 2024, and that the council 'never instigated any formal enforcement proceedings against this use'. He said company applied for planning permission for a 'temporary change of use' in February 2023, but this was later withdrawn as it had not been determined by April 2024. Asylum seekers then began being placed in the Bell Hotel again in April 2025, with Mr Riley-Smith stating that a planning application was not made 'having taken advice from the Home Office'. 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Sky News
an hour ago
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Epping asylum hotel court ruling poses real danger for government - but they also smell dirty tricks
"It's an interesting moment," was how one government source described the High Court ruling that will force an Essex hotel to be emptied of asylum seekers within weeks. That may prove to be the understatement of the summer. For clues as to why, just take a glance at what the Home Office's own lawyer told the court on Tuesday. Granting the injunction"runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests", the barrister said - pointing out that similar legal claims by other councils would "aggravate pressures on the asylum estate". Right on cue and just hours after the ruling came in, Broxbourne Council - over the border in Hertfordshire - posted online that it was urgently seeking legal advice with a view to taking similar court action. The risks here are clear. Recent figures show just over 30,000 asylum seekers being housed in hotels across the country. If they start to empty out following a string of court claims, the Home Office will struggle to find alternative options. After all, they are only in hotels because of a lack of other types of accommodation. There are several caveats though. This is just an interim injunction that will be heard in full in the autumn. So the court could swing back in favour of the hotel chain - and by extension the Home Office. We have been here before Remember, this isn't the first legal claim of this kind. Other councils have tried to leverage the power of the courts to shut down asylum hotels, with varying degrees of success. In 2022, Ipswich Borough Council failed to get an extension to an interim injunction to prevent migrants being sent to a Novotel in the town. As in Epping, lawyers argued there had been a change in use under planning rules. But the judge eventually decided that the legal duty the Home Office has to provide accommodation for asylum seekers was more important. So there may not be a direct read across from this case to other councils. Home Office officials are emphasising this injunction was won on the grounds of planning laws rather than national issues such as public order, and as such, each case will be different. Failing Labour approach or Tory tricks? But government sources also smell dirty tricks from Epping Council and are suggesting that the Tory-led local authority made the legal claim for political reasons. Pointing to the presence of several prominent Tory MPs in the Essex area - as well as the threat posed by Reform in the county - the question being posed is why this legal challenge was not brought when asylum seekers first started being sent to the hotel in 2020 during the Conservatives ' time in government. Epping Council would no doubt reject that and say recent disorder prompted them to act. But that won't stop the Tories and Reform of seizing on this as evidence of a failing approach from Labour.
