Bid to block migrant hotels in borough defeated

Councillor Rob Tynan says residents were "never asked if they wanted hotels turned into migrant hostels"

A motion to seek legal advice on injunctions to close hotels housing migrants in part of Cheshire has been defeated.

It called for Labour-run Warrington Council to note the "increasing pressures" faced by communities "where hotels have been designated for migrant use without consultation", including the Holiday Inn, in Woolston, and the Fir Grove Hotel, in Grappenhall.

Warrington's only Conservative councillor Rob Tynan proposed the motion and criticised Labour councillors for voting it down by 46 votes to three. The motion was seconded by Reform UK councillor John Roddy.

Labour councillor Nathan Sudworth said: "It's the Conservatives who created this chaos, it's Labour fixing it."

The motion also called for the council to state it believed "using hotels as long-term accommodation for migrants is unsustainable and places disproportionate pressures on local infrastructure", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Against community interests'

If it had been been passed, it would have seen the council request the chief executive, in consultation with the council's legal team, to "urgently assess the merits" of seeking injunctions to prevent the use of the Holiday Inn in Woolston, the Fir Grove Hotel in Grappenhall, and "any other local hotels for migrant accommodation where it is deemed against community interests".

It would also have seen the council oppose the approval of any new houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) for migrant use as well as write to the Home Office expressing the its "concerns", and to request "full consultation with the council on any future decisions regarding migrant accommodation".

And it would have seen the council call on the government to "immediately close all Warrington hotels being used for migrant housing" and to "deport failed asylum seekers and all those with no lawful reason to remain".

Tynan, who serves Rixton and Woolston, said the motion was a result of the many messages and contact he had had about the "hotel situation" from Woolston residents.

'Unbelievably'

Labour councillor Nathan Sudworth, cabinet member for organisation, innovation and co-operation, blamed the last Conservative government for the situation, which he said "opened asylum hotels across the country, signed billion pound contracts with Serco and let the asylum backlog spiral out of control".

Sudworth, who serves Poplars and Hulme, added: "And now, unbelievably, a Conservative councillor turns up here tonight, hand in hand with Reform, pretending they had nothing to do with it."

"It's the Conservatives who created this chaos, it's Labour fixing it."

He said Labour was "speeding up" asylum decisions, returning those with "no right to stay" and ending the hotel use "for good".

Following the meeting, Tynan said: "Local services are at breaking point. Our residents were never asked if they wanted hotels turned into migrant hostels - it was just done."

He added: "Let's be clear - these are illegal migrants. And yet Labour thinks they should get hotels, while families in Warrington wait years for housing."