Former Dudley MP Marco Longhi to address council meeting on immigration after 3,000 people sign his petition

Mr Longhi, the former Conservative MP, who has since defected to Reform UK after losing his seat at last year's election, has been granted a debate on the council's approach to asylum seekers.

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A total of 3,229 people signed his petition calling for the authority to seek injunctions ordering the removal of all asylum seekers or illegal immigrants from all hotels in the borough. 

He also called for the authority to review its policy on granting licences for houses of multiple occupation (HMOs), hostels where individuals can rent secure bedrooms, but share common spaces such as kitchens and bathrooms. Mr Longhi said many of these properties were being used to disperse asylum seekers. 

Mr Longhi's petition said: "We call on Dudley Council to examine if sufficient weighting is given to the fear of crime aspect with the dispersal of illegal migrants and asylum seekers in the community via HMO housing.

"Fear of crime is a material planning consideration and given the documented higher incidence of crime associated with the housing of said individuals, we request the council undertake an immediate planning review into its policy for granting HMO status to applications it receives.”

The council will set aside 30 minutes for the petition to be debated, and Mr Longhi will be given three minutes to make his case at the start of the meeting.

Dudley Council leader Councillor Patrick Harley said the council was already seeking to use legal means to remove all asylum seekers from hotel accommodation in the borough. 

He said there was a single official asylum-seeker hotel in the borough housing 72 migrants. This was out of 4,000 migrants who had been dispersed across the West Midlands, he said, and said the number was relatively low due to 'robust' dealings with the Home Office.

Councillor Harley said the authority was following a precedent set by Great Yarmouth Council, and was taking enforcement action against the borough's only hotel which had been set aside for asylum-seeker accommodation, on the grounds that it was an unauthorised change of use. He said because it was no longer open to the public, it could no longer be described as an hotel.

Councillor Harley said he was further taking legal action against other hotels in the borough, including the former Ward Arms, now the Superior Hotel, in Birmingham Road, which has become the target for a number of protests despite it not being an asylum hotel.

He said that hotel had been taken over by other local authorities, including Birmingham, which was using it to provide temporary accommodation for people on its waiting lists, some of whom may have come from other countries.

Councillor Harley said because this was a private deal between the councils and the operator, Dudley Council had not been informed.