THE Bell Hotel in Epping may take years to close down – the leader of Epping Forest District Council has warned. Councillor Chris Whitbread’s warning comes after the council lost a Court of Appeal bid to challenge a High Court ruling dismissing its attempt to stop the hotel from being used to house asylum seekers. reports the Local Democracy Reporter.

The council had wanted to use an injunction to prevent the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping as accommodation for asylum seekers, on the grounds that it considered such use a breach of planning control.

But Councillor Whitbread has now said the council could use enforcement to shut it down – albeit that could take years.

The Bell Hotel became the focal point of protests last summer after a resident was charged and later convicted of sexual assault against a woman and a teenage girl.

Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was sentenced to 12 months in prison in September, only to be mistakenly released. He has since been deported back to Ethiopia.

The council wanted to appeal against Mr Justice Mould’s decision in November last year not to grant an injunction preventing asylum seekers from being accommodated at the hotel. But in a judgment, two Court of Appeal judges said the appeal could not go ahead.

In a meeting on February 10, the council heard that it needed to focus on the safety aspect of the Bell.

Councillor Jaymey McIvor said: “I appreciate the council has done all it can from a legal perspective with regards to planning law, but is it not now the time to take a serious look at the safety implications of these hotels and the risks that they bring to communities like Epping?

“And if the hotel is not to close imminently, then we must redouble our efforts to make sure the home office recognises the safety risk that these hotels pose and take a very different approach from a planning approach.”

Councillor Whitbread said: “Of course, as a council we continue with our endeavours to get the hotel closed, and we are recognised from day one that the hotel wasn’t suitable for the use that it was allotted for last April. And therefore we continue on that basis.”

He added: “We are following the enforcement route, but that will take time. That can take years. It’s not an easy answer, but we are following that route because that’s the right thing to do..

“We can’t close it through an injunction, but we will try through enforcement. Most importantly, we remind the government, every time we speak to them, about our concerns over this hotel.

“So we are addressing that. But it takes a change in government policy to actually do more than we’re doing.

“It needs a national change. It needs this government to recognise the concerns of the people who live near some of these hotels, particularly when they sit next door to a school, which is what we told them at the time.

“So we will keep doing and battling on as Epping Forest District Council, and we will keep doing our best to get that hotel closed.

“But what we actually need is the government to change its policy, which I believe they are trying to do. They’re just taking a long time doing it.”

A Home Office spokesperson said it aims to close stop hotels such as The Bell, which is being used to accommodate migrants, and start using sites like the Crowborough former military site in East Sussex instead.

A statement said: “This government is removing the incentives drawing illegal migrants to Britain. That is why we will close every single asylum hotel, including the Bell Hotel, moving asylum seekers into basic accommodation like the Crowborough former military site.”

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