Peterborough City Council takes action over hotel asylum seeker plan

Peterborough City Council leader Wayne Fitzgerald said officers believed a potential change would be a breach of the hotel's current use

A council has taken enforcement action over Home Office plans to house asylum seekers in a city centre hotel.

Peterborough City Council's chief executive Matt Gladstone said he was told asylum seekers could arrive soon.

The council said its resources to "help genuine asylum seekers are stretched to the absolute limit", and it is already home to more than 300 asylum seekers.

The Home Office said while "hotels do not provide a long-term solution", it was working to find other housing.

Conservative Paul Bristow, the city's MP, also opposes the plan

The city council's Conservative leader Wayne Fitzgerald said: "The planning team believe any change of use would most likely be a breach of its current use and would need planning permission to make that change, therefore if asylum seekers started to arrive, we would immediately issue a stop notice to the owners.

"And further in anticipation of this, we have filed today an application for an injunction with the High Court which we believe will be heard on Monday."

Conservative MP for the city, Paul Bristow, also opposed the move, saying it was the wrong hotel in the wrong location at the wrong time.

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The council described Peterborough as "a welcoming and tolerant place", adding it housed more asylum seekers "than any other city or town in the east of England".

A council spokesperson added: "We have taken enforcement action today to prevent the change of use [of the hotel] to allow its use for further asylum seekers, not just because our own resources to welcome and help genuine asylum seekers are stretched to the absolute limit, but because of the risks to strategic infrastructure of our city, and the UK."

In a statement, the Home Office said: "The number of people arriving in the UK who seek asylum and require accommodation has reached record levels, placing unprecedented pressures on the asylum system.

"The Home Office and partners identify sites for accommodation based on whether they are safe and available.

"While we accept that hotels do not provide a long-term solution, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation, and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation during this challenging time."