Legal action blocks plan to use Hull Humber View Hotel to house asylum seekers

A council has taken legal action to block plans for asylum seekers to be housed in a four-star hotel.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council has secured an interim injunction to prevent Hull Humber View Hotel, in the village of North Ferriby, being used as accommodation for migrants.

It comes after objections from residents, councillors and MPs and complaints from guests – including a couple who were due to have their wedding at the hotel – that reservations had been cancelled.

David Davis, Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden, said on Twitter: "The hotel is in entirely the wrong location and lacking appropriate amenities to support migrants."

Local Liberal Democrat councillor Margaret Corless said the plans had been put forward without notice. She said: "It has caused a lot of anger and upset at the way it has been handled, we had heard rumours on the grapevine but there has been no public consultation."

Couple Dean Turner and Charlotte Townend were due to get married at the hotel, but were told within weeks of their wedding that it could not go ahead.

Mr Turner said: "Everything had been booked and paid for including 25 rooms for our guests, a wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, flowers, you name it.

"It's all we've been talking about for weeks."

He said he was told by their wedding planner that the hotel was being "taken over" by the Home Office.

The Home Office has said it would not comment on individual sites or ongoing legal proceedings.

But a spokesperson said hotels were being used as a temporary measure with the asylum system under "incredible strain".

In a statement they said: "The use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable – there are currently more than 37,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer £5.6 million a day.

"The use of hotels is a short-term solution and we are working hard with local authorities to find appropriate accommodation."

Best Western said it would not comment.

It comes as Home Secretary Suella Braverman faces pressure to resign amid reports of migrants being held in dire conditions while waiting to be processed in the UK. A Border Force migration centre in Dover was firebombed on Sunday.

Ms Braverman and immigration minister Robert Jenrick could be summoned to face questions from MPs after an immigration watchdog official said he was left "speechless" by overcrowding at Manston processing centre in Kent.

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