Questions about migrant hotels prevented under councils' privacy rules
Asylum seekers have been housed in hotels across the UK, often without residents being alerted. But this has raised concerns among residents and councils.
This comes days after anti-migrant protesters clashed with police outside a hotel believed to house asylum seekers in Essex.
Chris Whitbread, the leader of Epping Forest council, called for the Bell Hotel to be shut down after an Ethiopian asylum seeker allegedly sexually assaulted a teenager.
It has been claimed that under privacy rules, the immigration status of those housed in the temporary accommodation cannot be shared with the public.
Newcastle city council said that it could not inform residents that a city-centre hotel was being used by the Home Office to house migrants, saying: 'We would not share a resident's personal information with other residents, unless we had specific legal reasons to do so.'
The council suggested the Home Office would be bound by the same rules.
The Home Office is responsible for providing asylum accommodation and makes decisions about housing new arrivals independently of local authorities, some of which have become uneasy with the presence of migrant hotels.
There are now thought to be more than 200 similar hotels across the UK, housing around 32,000 people at a projected cost of £15bn by 2029 – five times the annual cost of Britain's nuclear deterrent.
In Altrincham, near Manchester, residents complained that there was an 'information vacuum' about a hotel.
West Oxfordshire council has in the past complained that even councillors were not informed about plans to move in migrants.
Tower Hamlets, the London borough with the largest Bangladeshi population in the UK, has told The Telegraph that 'we do not announce when asylum seeker hotels are stood up in the borough, nor do we announce when a refugee comes'.
However, the presence of migrants in communities is often noticed by residents who have not been officially informed but have raised concerns about new arrivals.
Police have pledged to instruct migrants in 'appropriate behaviours' after residents of Deanshanger, in Northamptonshire, raised concerns about the behaviour of new arrivals living in a hotel near a primary school.
Officers drew up a PowerPoint presentation for asylum seekers in hotels on the key points of UK culture, including the fact that women 'have the same rights as men' and 'must be treated with respect and courtesy'. It warned: 'If you harass or abuse any female, you can be arrested.'
It comes as illegal Channel migrant crossings are on course to hit a record total this year.
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