Asylum hotels to be checked for planning breaches

Derby Conservatives say their plan is about fairness and safety

Derby City Council officers will be told to check whether two hotels in the city housing asylum seekers are breaking planning rules.

It follows a knife-edge vote at a full council meeting with the ruling Labour administration, which had opposed the idea, defeated on the mayor's casting decision.

The plan was proposed by the opposition Conservatives, who want Derby to follow the lead of Epping Forest District Council, which has staged a legal challenge against a hotel in Epping.

The council motion says Derby's chief executive and head of planning should pursue "enforcement action" if the hotels had broken the rules by "changing use" in becoming asylum accommodation.

Labour says the vote will not change anything as a complaint would still be needed for planners to act.

The party proposed its own amendment to the plan, which was defeated.

Hardyal Dhindsa, who serves in Derby's Labour council cabinet, said they would have acted themselves if the hotels were causing a problem.

"The evidence and the complaints for six years, there's none, for the two hotels in Derby," he said.

'Not demonise people'

Conservative group leader Steve Hassall said: "I think we've done something quite fundamental.

"I think we've spoken up for people whose voices weren't being heard, we're now being proactive in the way that Epping's been proactive."

Epping Forest District Council secured a temporary injunction stopping The Bell Hotel in Epping housing migrants in August, but this was later overturned at the Court of Appeal.

The authority is now challenging that decision and the case will be heard on 15 October.

Opposition councillors in Derby believe if Epping Forest is successful, it would let them stage their own planning challenges to asylum hotels.

Labour says the hotels need to close but in an orderly way.

"We need to not demonise people seeking asylum," said Dhindsa.