Date to be set for court action to stop Peterborough's Great Northern Hotel being used as refuge for asylum seekers

Council chiefs in Peterborough are gearing up for a court battle in a bid to stop a prominent hotel being used as a hostel for asylum seekers.

A date has still to be set for a legal hearing four days after Peterborough City Council applied for an injunction when about 80 asylum seekers were moved into the 41-bedroom Great Northern Hotel, in Station Approach.

The injunction will seek to stop any change of use of the 170-year-old building from a hotel to a hostel.

However, the council will not take court action against a second hotel – The Verve in Boongate - where a number of asylum seekers have been given refuge.

A council spokesperson said: "We applied for an injunction on Friday to stop the change of use of the Great Northern from a hotel to a hostel.

"We are waiting to hear when this will be heard in the courts.

"We also issued a stop notice on the Great Northern, to prevent the change of use from a hotel to a hostel.

"We have received no response from the hotel at this time which means they are in breach of planning rules.

"It does mean that they can accept no new asylum seekers.

But she added: “We are not looking to take enforcement action against The Verve.

“Peterborough is a welcoming and tolerant place and is currently offering refuge to over 300 asylum seekers, more than any other city or town in the East of England.

"We hold a very strong record of welcoming people into our city going back many years.

“However, we have taken enforcement action in the usage of the Great Northern Hotel, not just because our own resources to welcome and help genuine asylum seekers are stretched to the absolute limit, but because of the risks to strategic infrastructure of our city and the UK due to the hotel’s location.”

The use of the Great Northern Hotel by Serco, employed by the Home Office to find accommodation for asylum seekers, has triggered opposition from Peterborough MP Paul Bristow.

He said: “This is a historic, city-centre hotel. It’s the wrong choice.

“I oppose this and will do everything I can to ensure it’s back to being a hotel.”

Representatives of the Great Northern Hotel have not commented despite repeated requests.

The hotel’s registered owner is Bodelson Finance, based at Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean.

The hotel was sold for £2,624,996 on April 21, 2009 when it was bought from Peterborough businessman Peter Boizot.

Documents filed at Companies House, give the person listed as having ‘significant control' of the hotel as entrepreneur Michael Chittenden, named as a director of Great Northern Hotel (UK) that was incorporated on June 22, 2009.

How are Peterborough’s new arrivals looked after?

Serco say asylum seekers can come and go as they wish from hotels, used until they can be moved into housing in the community.

The Home Office says asylum seekers in hotels get full board accommodation with three meals a day served plus other essentials, including cash payments.

Those in full-board accommodation receive £8.24 a week for essential living items. Those in self-catered accommodation get £40.85 a week for essential needs.