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13
Mar
Council responds as North Yorkshire hotel to cease housing asylum seekers
North Yorkshire Council has responded to the Home Office revealing it will no longer house asylum seekers at a hotel in the county.
The Home Office has written to the council to advise that it is terminating the contract for asylum accommodation with Allerton Court Hotel in Northallerton.
The hotel will stop being used to house family groups of asylum seekers from the beginning of June this year.
The government has pledged to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers entirely by 2029.
North Yorkshire Council leader, Cllr Carl Les, said he welcomed the announcement but would like more information from the Home Office.
He added:
We’d like to know a little bit more about the plans for moving asylum seekers out of hotels into other parts of the estate and whether part of that estate is in North Yorkshire.
But we’re waiting for the Home Office to contact us about this.
The Northallerton hotel has housed family groups of asylum seekers for several years.
Last year, it emerged that Home Office officials had drawn up plans to instead use the hotel for single male asylum seekers.
This prompted the council to write to the owner of the hotel, as well as the Home Office, to express concerns that a change of use could breach planning regulations and lead to legal action.
The government later announced it would not be pursuing the plan.
Conservative MP for Richmond and Northallerton Rishi Sunak said he was “encouraged” to hear the latest update.
He added:
Following the Home Office’s decision not to proceed with its plan to replace the families housed there with single males, which I, along with North Yorkshire Council, strongly opposed, this is a welcome development.
I will remain in contact with Ministers to ensure the Home Office adheres to the timetable for the relocation of the remaining asylum seekers.
Work to close every asylum hotel 'well underway'
A Home Office spokesperson said:
We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels. Work is well underway to close every asylum hotel, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities and cut asylum costs.
The home secretary has set out the most sweeping asylum reforms in a generation to restore order to the system, including cutting incentives for illegal migration and revoking the duty to provide asylum seeker support such as housing.
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