Somani Hotels Limited: Lawyer of Bell Hotel owner issues statement - after winning appeal to allow asylum seekers to stay
Lawyer of Somani Hotels Limited - which owns The Bell Hotel in Epping - has issued a statement.
Lisa Foster of Richard Buxton Solicitors, which represents Somani Hotels, has issued the statement after winning an appeal to allow asylum seekers to stay at the hotel. She said: said: “We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has ruled that the injunction should not have been granted by the High Court.
“Our clients realise that they have been caught in the middle of a much wider debate on the treatment of asylum seekers and respectfully ask that members of the public understand that the Bell Hotel has simply been providing a contracted service that the Government requires. We now ask that all associated with the Bell Hotel are left alone to continue to support the Government’s asylum plans as best they can.
“We are grateful to the Court of Appeal for appreciating the urgency of the matter from everyone’s point of view and dealing with the matter so swiftly. We have no further comment and will not be commenting on the matter again.”
Somani Hotels, which owns the Bell Hotel in Epping, and the Home Office challenged a High Court ruling that would have stopped 138 asylum seekers from being housed there beyond September 12. In a ruling last week, Mr Justice Eyre granted Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) an interim injunction after the authority claimed that Somani Hotels had breached planning rules by using the Bell as accommodation for asylum seekers.
After a hearing on Thursday, three Court of Appeal judges ruled in favour of Somani Hotels and the Home Office on Friday, stating that Mr Justice Eyre’s ruling was “seriously flawed in principle”. The ruling will come as a relief to the Home Office, which had been braced for further legal challenges from other councils over the use of hotels in their areas.
Reading a summary of the ruling overturning the injunction, Lord Justice Bean, sitting with Lady Justice Nicola Davies and Lord Justice Cobb, said: “We conclude that the judge made a number of errors in principle, which undermine this decision.” He continued: “The judge’s approach ignores the obvious consequence that the closure of one site means capacity needs to be identified elsewhere in the system.”
He added that such an injunction “may incentivise” other councils to take similar steps as EFDC. He said: “The potential cumulative impact of such ad-hoc applications was a material consideration… that was not considered by the judge.”