Council's legal action over Wisbech migrant hotel dismissed

Fenland District Council's bid to stop migrants living in a hotel in Wisbech was refused at the High Court

A council's application for an injunction to prevent the Home Office temporarily placing migrants in a hotel has been dismissed by the High Court.

Fenland District Council in Cambridgeshire sought action regarding the hotel in Wisbech.

Its lawyers said Wisbech had "a history of migrant exploitation".

Refusing the injunction, the judge said: "It is not said that the hotel is unsuitable, the point made by the claimant is that the town is."

An injunction application by the council earlier this month on the grounds that housing migrants would change the use of the hotel to a hostel was refused.

Lawyers returned to the High Court on Wednesday, with the council's barrister saying there were concerns about the welfare of migrants and that Wisbech had "significant deprivation", "organised crime" and a "history of migrant exploitation".

However, in a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Holgate dismissed the council's bid for a temporary injunction against the hotel's operators and Home Office contractor Serco.

He said: "It is not said that the hotel is unsuitable, the point made by the claimant is that the town is."

The judge added that "a generalised point is made with very little detail" regarding potential migrant exploitation.

He later said that some of the people who have been accommodated at the hotel had previously stayed at Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire, which "shows that the system is still under considerable pressure, if not stress".

'Vulnerable people'

Mr Justice Holgate concluded that granting the injunction "would not be commensurate with the level of harm on the evidence before the court the claimant relies upon".

"The conclusion I have come to is that the application for an interim injunction should be refused," the judge added.

Fenland District Council's Conservative leader Chris Boden said: "We are obviously disappointed that we were unsuccessful in securing an interim injunction to stop the use of a local hotel as a hostel by accommodating asylum seekers.

"We remain deeply concerned about the housing of asylum seekers there, as there has been no consideration of the potential risks these vulnerable people will be facing or the significant amount of support they will need."

On 2 November, Stoke-on-Trent City Council failed in its bid to prevent a hotel being used to house migrants.

On 11 November, Ipswich Borough Council and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council also failed in their applications for similar injunctions to block migrants being housed in hotels in their areas.

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