Stradey Park Hotel: Owners win injunction in bid to curb protests

The owners of a four-star hotel earmarked for housing asylum-seekers have secured a temporary High Court injunction against protestors.

The injunction limits the activities of groups objecting to the plans who have gathered outside in recent weeks.

The owners of the Stradey Park Hotel in Furnace, Carmarthenshire, sought the injunction in a bid to prevent trespass and obstruction at the property.

The injunction was granted until late January next year.

Several action groups are opposed to plans for the venue to host up to 241 asylum seekers which were announced in June.

The injunction bid by hotel owner Gryphon Leisure was adjourned by the judge earlier this week because he wanted people who had emailed him to be able to attend court and make submissions.

On Thursday, a group of Furnace residents who live close to the hotel shared their concerns over the impact of the protests and the potential arrival of asylum seekers.

Judge Roger ter Haar told the court in London the residents spoke "powerfully and emotionally" to him about it.

Tracey Hallett, a carer whose grandmother had previously owned the hotel, said the majority of protesters were "peaceful" but claimed that "hard-right groups had caused unrest".

As a result of the protests and the proposed new use of the hotel she had stopped using her nearby home for respite care, the court heard.

Ms Hallett's daughter, Jessica Hallett, said she had become "petrified" to live in her own home due to "the activity of far-right groups".

Local resident Dafydd Parkman said parents were "extremely concerned" about "very real safety issues" and the impact that plans for housing asylum seekers could have on the area's "limited resources".

Meanwhile Ben Morris raised concerns about the impact of plans on the local education system, and claimed he was unable to sell his property because estate agents said it had fallen in value.

Jenny Wigley KC told Thursday's hearing that Gryphon Leisure wanted the temporary injunction to "forbid" protesters entering hotel land, blocking any entrance to the property or obstructing the owners, their employees or contractors from accessing it.

The barrister said the injunction was not intended to "interfere with the right to protest".

She said protesters had previously "dumped very large rocks by tractor" and erected a metal fence to block access to the hotel.

Protesters had also chained themselves to the ground, put up tents and marquees, waved Union Jack and Welsh flags and held up signs, "some of which display racist and offensive slogans", Ms Wigley said.

She said protesters had been "verbally aggressive", had sought to "intimidate and threaten" staff and contractors and had "slashed the tyres" of the owner's vehicles.

The judge said in his ruling there is "clearly... an unacceptable level of protest which needs to be stopped", and noted that the injunction would not stop protesters altogether but would "at least stop the more unacceptable elements of the protests that are going on".

The legal proceedings come after Carmarthenshire council lost a bid for a High Court injunction on 7 July to temporarily block plans for the hotel to accommodate asylum-seeker families.

Earlier on Thursday, Helen Thomas, 52, from Furnace, appeared at Llanelli Magistrates' Court and denied blocking access to the hotel.

She had been charged with locking herself on to an object, person or land on 9 July with intent to cause serious disruption to Stradey Park Hotel and Spa visitors.