Asylum hotel will be reopened to public

Asylum seekers have started being removed from the hotel

A hotel that has been used to house asylum seekers for the last two years will be refurbished and reopened to the public.

Protests were staged at the Park Hotel in Diss last month after officials said they wanted to send single men to the premises, rather than families.

On Friday, the Home Office said it would stop sending migrants there, and South Norfolk Council confirmed residents had started being removed.

Adrian Ramsay, the Green MP for Waveney Valley, said "poor planning" from the Home Office had resulted in "weeks" of uncertainty for families living at the site.

The building has been home to asylum-seeking families since 2023.

Last month, the hotel said it had "no alternative but to close" if the Home Office proceeded with relocating single men rather than families.

The hotel decided not to renew its contract with the government for asylum seekers, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Speaking last week, Ramsay said: "I feel for the families who have been living in the hotel who have been caught in the middle of the arguments about its future."

He said he hoped the asylum seekers would now be "given proper support and information".