Allesley hotel ordered to remove asylum seekers...

[dutchman]

A village hotel has been ordered to remove asylum seekers housed under a government contract



The Allesley Hotel has been accused by Coventry City Council of operating as a hostel without planning approval.

A third Coventry hotel housing asylum seekers would be "disproportionate for a city our size", the authority stated.

The hotel said it was in the process of seeking legal advice. The Home Office said it encouraged all local authorities to work with it.

The hotel on Birmingham Road in Coventry is housing asylum seekers as part of a Home Office contract, but the council said this had been done "without proper consultation".

A temporary stop notice has been issued to the hotel which orders it to remove asylum seekers from its premises by 12:00 BST on 3 September.

It had also been told to stop using the premises as a hostel by then, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Over the years the hotel has been used by the council to provide temporary accommodation to homeless people.

In housing asylum seekers, the authority claims the hotel has conducted a "material change of use" without planning approval.

Giving reasons in the notice, the council said the city now had more than 500 asylum seekers in temporary hotels.

Deputy leader Abdul Salam Khan said a decision to take legal action "was not taken lightly".

He said Coventry had been "a voluntary asylum dispersal city since 1999", but specialist health services and local charities were "already struggling to support and manage the demand from those in existing hotels".

[rebbonk]

Not enough 'brown' envelopes going to the right people?