Peterborough City Council drops court action to stop Great Northern Hotel's use as refuge for asylum seekers

Peterborough City Council chiefs have abandoned a court battle to stop a city hotel being used as a hostel for asylum seekers.

They have withdrawn an application for an injunction to stop the Great Northern Hotel, in Station Approach, being used by the Home Office to place asylum seekers.

The move comes after councils in Yorkshire and Ipswich failed to secure injunctions to stop hotels in their areas being used for asylum seekers,

Now Peterborough City Council intends to focus on the use of its planning powers to restore the 170-year-old Great Northern Hotel to its original use as a hotel.

The council, supported by Peterborough MP Paul Bristow, say the 41-bedroom Great Northern Hotel is not an appropriate place for use as a refuge for asylum seekers because of its proximity to vital transport infrastructure and because services are already overstretched.

It is estimated that about 150 asylum seekers – mostly from Afghanistan – have been moved into Peterborough since November 11 by Serco, acting on behalf of the Home Office, and split between the Great Northern Hotel and The Verve hotel in Boongate.

Their arrival immediately prompted the council to seek an injunction to prevent the Great Northern Hotel being used in this way by the Home Office.

But a council spokesperson said: “Following the placing of asylum seekers in our city by the Home Office, we initially issued injunction proceedings in the County Court.

"These were transferred to the High Court and a hearing was listed in the High Court on Friday.

"In light of the outcomes of similar applications from other councils, which have been previously refused by the High Court, the decision was made to withdraw the application, which was granted by the court.

"We have taken this action because we have great concerns about the suitability of the Great Northern Hotel and the ability for our already stretched public services to cope with this many new arrivals.

"Our history shows that we are a tolerant and welcoming city to those in genuine need.

"We continue to take our own planning enforcement action against the hotel in response to the temporary change of use to a hostel.

"The first, served on 11 November, was a ​temporary stop notice, and we received no response from the hotel. We therefore followed it up with a Planning Contravention Notice, issued on 16 November.

"If there continues to be no action by the hotel we will ​take further steps, which may include prosecuting the hotel, as well as preparing to issue a more permanent planning enforcement notice which will require the use of the building to revert back to a hotel."

Mr Bristow said: “Peterborough City Council and I are completely united on our opposition to the Great Northern Hotel being used in this way.

"While the injunction was important, the hotel is in clear breach of planning law. This is where the council should act.

“The Great Northern is the wrong hotel, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”