Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow has called on Peterborough City Council to take legal action over a hotel housing asylum seekers.

It comes after the High Court granted Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from lodging at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

Mr Bristow said this ruling set a “significant precedent” for other authorities to follow suit.

The Dragonfly Hotel in Peterborough has been used to house asylum seekers since November 2024, when 146 men were moved in.

Councillor Dennis Jones, Labour leader of Peterborough City Council, said the authority was watching the Epping legal case “with interest”.

He added: “We are carefully reviewing the court’s judgement and other legal implications before making our own decision on whether or not to launch a legal challenge.”

In a letter sent to Peterborough City Council’s chief executive Matt Gladstone, Conservative mayor Mr Bristow said: “As you will know, under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, any material change of use of land or buildings ordinarily requires planning permission.

“While hotels fall within the C1 planning use class, long-term use as accommodation for asylum seekers represents a material change of use.

“In view of the High Court ruling, I urge Peterborough City Council to challenge the continued use of The Dragonfly Hotel legally, and to take all appropriate courses of action that will lead to a similar injunction.”

The council has maintained that The Dragonfly Hotel is not suitable for housing asylum seekers.

Peterborough’s Labour MP Andrew Pakes and North West Cambridgeshire’s Labour MP Sam Carling have campaigned alongside other local politicians to stop the hotel being used as asylum accommodation.

In a joint statement from the two MPs, they said: “We’ve had productive discussions with Cllr Dennis Jones about the implications of the recent court judgement and welcome the approach of the council to review the court’s finding and to look at every option available.”

They added: “We have consistently made the case that, whilst Peterborough has a proud story of welcoming asylum seekers and others in need to the city, the Dragonfly Hotel is the wrong choice of location.

“We will continue to work with the Home Office to get the hotel stood down as soon as possible.”

They also insisted that the current Labour government inherited a “broken asylum system”.

Cllr Jones added: “We maintain that Peterborough has a proud history of welcoming asylum seekers and others in need to the city, but in a planned and coordinated way.

“Our resources are already stretched – we are already well above our Dispersed Accommodation quota and housing far more than our share of asylum seekers than other areas of the country.

“In addition, we believe that The Dragonfly is not the ideal location with the hotel sited in a residential area with limited access to services and amenities.”