Peterborough City Council officers to tackle use of Great Northern Hotel for asylum seekers during meeting with Home Office

Peterborough City Council officials are to meet with Home Office representatives to discuss the placing of asylum seekers in the city.

Officers are expected to tackle the way ahead for asylum seekers who have been moved into the Great Northern Hotel, in Station Approach.

The council is opposed to the use of the 170-year-old hotel as a refuge for asylum seekers claiming it is an inappropriate location and that such a use poses a risk to key infrastructure.

The local authority is currently considering taking court action against the hotel owners claiming the use of the hotel for asylum seekers is a change of use and against planning rules. It is seeking legal opinion on the likely success of such action.

A council spokesperson said: “We are awaiting third party legal advice and will be having further discussions with SERCO and the Home Office.”

The discussions are to take place tomorrow (March 1).

About 80 asylum seekers were moved into the 160-bedroom hotel by officials of SERCO, which acts on behalf of the Home Office, on November 11. The asylum seekers were moved from the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent.

The use of the hotel has also been opposed by Peterborough MP Paul Bristow who has on at least two occasions spoken in the House of Commons to urge Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick to publish a timetable detailing when the use of hotels like the Great Northern for asylum seekers will be stopped.