Four councils in Northern Ireland making enquiries after Epping migrant hotel ruling

Belfast City Council said it has "opened enforcement investigations into alleged breaches of planning control by some hotels in the city, following a complaint".

It added: "As these are live investigations, we cannot disclose any further information.”

It is not clear if these are current or former alleged breaches.

Meanwhile Ards and North Down Borough Council and Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council are also looking into the same issue in their areas.

It comes after it was reported on Wednesday that a planning enforcement investigation had commenced by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council in relation to the Chimney Corner Hotel.

This all began when the High Court ruled on Tuesday that an injunction should be granted barring asylum seekers from being housed in a hotel in Epping, Essex.

The local council had argued that this was because its only approved use was as a hotel, not an asylum holding centre.

In his ruling, the judge said that whilst the council had not “definitively established” that this was a breach of planning rules, “the strength of the claimant’s case is such that it weighs in favour” of granting the injunction.

A report by Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council in January this year noted that The Rambler Inn Hotel in Portstewart and Magherabuoy House Hotel in Portrush were being used by the Home Office.

John McAuley, DUP deputy group leader on the council, believes that only the latter may currently be in use for this purpose.

When the hotel was phoned, a woman answered and said they could not give out any information about whether the Home Office is still using it. Asked who she was, the line went dead.

The Rambler Inn, run by the nationwide company OYO, has no website or social media, and the phone number listed for it by Discover Northern Ireland does not work. Google lists it as "temporarily closed".

Councillor McAuley told the News Letter: "We've asked them [the council] to check and make sure everything's as it should be, and if it’s not there needs to be planning enforcement."

When the council was contacted, it said: "The council received correspondence from the DUP then the TUV in relation to hotels housing asylum seekers and will now inquire into the matters raised."

In Ards and North Down, DUP MLA Stephen Dunne said he had raised a similar query with the council regarding the use of Bangor's Marine Court Hotel by the Home Office.

The council said: "Ards and North Down Borough Council is in receipt of several queries regarding the Marine Court Hotel in Bangor and the planning service will review these in line with its enforcement policy."

When the Marine Court Hotel itself was phoned, a man answered who said "no comment, thank you" before the line went dead. Its Facebook page hasn't been updated since 2021.

Londonderry/Strabane has been asked if it has any hotels in use by the Home Office. A response is awaited.

The latest figures from the Home Office show that, as of June this year, there were 2,535 asylum seekers in receipt of government support in Northern Ireland.

The biggest single group came from Somalia (668), followed by Syria (235), Eritrea (219) and Sudan (166).

Out of the 2,535 total, 246 were in hotels.

Asked why he objects to migrants staying in the hotels, Causeway councillor McAuley told the News Letter: "Let's look at it in the wider context.

"Our NHS is bursting at the seams. Our housing waiting lists are growing by the day. And for some reason the Home Office want to continue allowing people to come in, and in some cases, get priority - and it's costing millions.

"I've people who are homeless, needing houses, seeking accommodation, and they can't get it.

"And yet we've these people can come in to the country and be put up in a hotel."

It was put to him that closing the hotels would lead to migrants being put up in general housing.

"That's the risk, but do you expect us to just turn a blind eye to the Home Office and whoever it is breaching planning laws?" he said.

"Businesses have to adhere to planning laws. We all have to adhere to planning laws. So why should these people be treated any different.

"I've no doubt sections of the media will turn this into a racism card. It's nothing to do with racism.

"This issue here is about making sure that everybody is adhering to the laws, rules, regulations we're all expected to adhere to."

He added there was concern over "who's coming in under the auspice of asylum seekers".

"An asylum seeker is someone that's requiring to come to a safe country from somewhere that's unsafe," he said.

"These people are travelling through numerous safe countries to come to the UK. This is where all the concern is that they're coming because the UK is now seen as soft.

"If these people are just looking a country of safety, what's wrong with where they've travelled through?"

On the subject of the Epping ruling, Angela Eagle MP, border security minister at the Home Office, said: “This government inherited a broken asylum system, at the peak there were over 400 hotels open.

"We will continue working with local authorities and communities to address legitimate concerns. Our work continues to close all asylum hotels by the end of this parliament.

“We will carefully consider this judgment. As this matter remains subject to ongoing legal proceedings it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

There were over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023.

There are now just over 200, and the government wants to shut them all by the end of this parliament.

When contacted, the Mears Group, which has a contract valued at about £400m over 10 years to supply accomodation and support to asylum seekers in Northern Ireland, said: “Mears has been successful in reducing the use of hotels for asylum accommodation in the contract areas we operate and our focus remains firmly on providing suitable alternative accommodation.”