Essex council in High Court bid to stop asylum seekers being housed at hotel
Documents relating to the Bell Hotel in Epping were lodged with the High Court in London on Tuesday, Epping Forest District Council said in a statement.
A series of protests have been held outside the hotel in recent weeks, after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.
Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denies sexual assault and is due to stand trial this month.
Council leader Chris Whitbread said the use of the hotel as asylum accommodation risks causing 'irreparable harm to the local community'.
The council had unanimously voted last month to urge the Government 'to immediately and permanently close' the hotel 'for the purposes of asylum processing'.
The Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Roger Hirst, had also reportedly called on the Home Secretary to review the use of the hotel for housing asylum seekers.
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In a statement, Mr Whitbread said: 'The current situation cannot go on. If the Bell Hotel was a nightclub, we could have closed it down long ago.
'So far as the council is aware, there is no criminal record checking of individuals who might only have been in the country a matter of days before being housed at the hotel.
'There are five schools and a residential care home within the vicinity of the hotel. The use by the Home Office of the premises for asylum seekers poses a clear risk of further escalating community tensions already at a high, and the risk of irreparable harm to the local community.
'This will only increase with the start of the new school year. We are frustrated that the Home Office continues not to listen.'
He continued: 'In our view, placing asylum seekers in the Bell Hotel is a clear breach of planning permission. It is not in use as a hotel, and it doesn't function as a hotel.
'The establishment of a centre to accommodate asylum seekers in this particular location, in close proximity to five schools, a residential care home, and the shops and amenities of the market town of Epping, is not appropriate in planning terms.'
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch claimed women in the area have 'stopped jogging in the park because there are men lurking in bushes', because of concerns about the hotel.
Following a visit to Epping on Monday, Mrs Badenoch told reporters: 'The people who I spoke to are having a lot of concerns about safety. Mothers told me that they're worried about their daughters going to school. They're getting harassed. They stopped jogging in the park because there are men lurking in bushes.
'Communities shouldn't have to be paying for this. And what I saw in Epping really, really upset me. I can see why many of those people are protesting.'
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