Dudley Council taking legal action to close asylum hotels, Staffordshire and Wolverhampton also considering options
West Midland councils have said they are looking at legal action to close down asylum-seeker hotels.
Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council said the authority had already begun legal proceedings before this week's High Court ruling.
Councillor Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said the authority's lawyers were also looking at the different options. Wolverhampton Council said it was also seeking legal advice in the wake of the ruling.
This week the High Court granted Epping Forest Council an interim injunction preventing the Bell Hotel in Epping being used as asylum-seeker accommodation.
Ministers are now braced for further legal challenges from councils following Tuesday's ruling.
Councillor Harley said Tory-run Dudley Council was already in the process of taking enforcement action against the borough's only hotel which had been set aside for asylum-seeker accommodation.
He said there were 72 asylum seekers who had been placed in hotel accommodation by government contractor Serco.
He said it represented an unauthorised change of use, given that it was no longer open to the public, and could no longer be described as an hotel.
Councillor Harley said legal proceedings had also been initiated seeking a borough-wide ban on asylum hotels, following a successful bid by the council in Great Yarmouth.
"In one sense, that will be a little more difficult, given that we have only one hotel that Serco has taken over for asylum use, but my argument is that we don't want to have some of the problems here that are happening in other parts of the country."
He said council officers were also looking into the implications of the Epping Forest ruling.
"Since the Epping Forest case, we have had our officers looking at whether we can do something based on that," he said.
"The Government had left a lot of loopholes, which the Home Secretary is now trying to close, but our KCs will be looking to apply for an injunction based on this decision."
Councillor Harley said while there was only one designated asylum-seeker hotel in the borough, it was possible that they may have been placed in hotels by other local authorities.
He said local authorities including those from London, Birmingham and Wolverhampton, had been hiring hotel rooms for people on their housing waiting lists, and it was possible that some of these may be either asylum seekers or had been granted leave to remain.
He said the authorities had no legal obligation to inform Dudley Council about this, and no such communication had been received.
Councillor Ian Cooper, the new Reform UK leader of Staffordshire County Council said he welcomed the ruling and planned to contact the county's district and borough councils to explore what options this gives them in Staffordshire.
"The control and protection of our country’s borders is a national issue, but the impact of central government policy is felt in communities across Staffordshire," he said.
“I have already written to the Home Secretary on this issue, stating that the ongoing use of hotels for the purpose of asylum is unacceptable and poses a serious risk to local communities as well as the residents themselves.”
Tuesday's ruling blocks asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in the Essex town, and current residents must be removed by September 12.
Councillor Carol Dean, Labour leader of Tamworth Borough Council, said she too would be monitoring the situation in the wake of the decision.
She said she understood the 'strong feelings within our community regarding the use of the Holiday Inn to house those seeking asylum'.
Councillor Dean said: “I want to reassure residents that we are listening to their concerns and taking them seriously.
“Nationally Labour came to power just over a year ago. The use of hotels has halved from 402 at their peak to 210 now, with a national pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.
“However, following the temporary High Court injunction granted to Epping Forest District Council, we are closely monitoring developments and reviewing our legal position in light of this significant ruling.”
A spokesman for Wolverhampton Council said the authority was assessing the implications of the ruling and, in collaboration with several other councils, was commissioning independent legal advice to understand how it applied.
"It is important to stress that the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers is a Home Office matter," he said.
"We have previously challenged the former government’s approach to this issue which led to policy changes, and we welcome the current administration’s pledge to end the use of hotels for this purpose.
"Wolverhampton takes pride in being a welcoming and inclusive city, embracing individuals from all backgrounds, and we agree that hotels are not appropriate settings for housing often vulnerable people."
