North Ferriby: Council considers next move in asylum hotel legal fight

A council has said it is "considering its legal position" after a bid to stop asylum seekers being housed in a hotel failed.

A High Court judge ruled East Riding of Yorkshire Council had not shown there was an urgent legal case to prevent the Home Office's contractors from using the Humber View Hotel in North Ferriby.

The local authority argued it was being converted to a hostel which was in breach of local planning controls.

But it failed to win an injunction.

The council said it was "disappointed" with the decision and it took "breaches of planning law seriously".

A spokesperson added: "We will now consider our legal position in respect of a final injunction hearing and any other methods of planning enforcement available to us in due course."

High Court judge Mr Justice Holgate refused to extend interim injunctions for Humber View Hotel in North Ferriby and Novotel hotel in Ipswich, Suffolk, which was being sought by Ipswich Borough Council on the same grounds.

Earlier the court heard that the Ipswich Novotel, the town's largest hotel, and the Humber View Hotel had been contracted in recent weeks to provide accommodation under the Home Office's scheme to distribute asylum seekers around the country.

The contracts meant the two large hotels would be closed to normal business for up to 12 months.

The two councils told the court that this amounted to a "material change of use" without either having given planning permission - and they asked the High Court to impose injunctions, ahead of a full trial later this year.

But the High Court ruled the councils had failed to show the court evidence of potential harm that was so serious it required judges to intervene at this stage.

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