Migrants crisis crippling councils

LABOUR ACCUSED OF CREATING ASYLUM ACCOMMODATION NIGHTMARE

- By Michael Knowles

TOWN halls have been “paralysed” by the Government dumping its asylum accommodation nightmare on communities, the Tories claim.

Sir Keir Starmer's ministers were accused of creating “confusion” and “chaos” by failing to give councils new planning guidance on whether permission is required to convert houses or hotels into asylum accommodation.

The issue was exposed in the legal battle over The Bell Hotel in Epping, with the hotel's owners arguing they did not need consent to use the rooms to house Channel migrants.

The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court injunction ordering the closure of the hotel for breaching planning laws.

Shadow Housing Secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “Labour have left councils in the dark, refusing to say whether turning a hotel or HMO into asylum accommodation even counts as a change of use.

"That failure of basic guidance has paralysed local authorities, dumped the problem on judges, and left residents paying the price.

"This Labour government has ducked every question on this, promising vaguely to end hotel use, while providing no framework for how councils are supposed to handle it in the meantime.”

Controlled

Home Office figures reveal there are 32,059 migrants living in hotels — up 8% from 29,585 in the year to June 2024.

And 66,234 asylum seekers are in houses, flats and bedsits — up from 61,778 last year.

Fears are intensifying that Labour's bid to close more than 200 migrant hotels will see tens of thousands of migrants transferred into communities already struggling to cope.

The Home Office's asylum accommodation providers are said to be looking for another 5,000 properties to house 20,000 people.