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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Danny Halpin

Essex asylum seeker hotel in ‘flagrant’ breach of planning laws, court told

Somani Hotels The Bell Hotel Essex Epping Bell Epping Forest District Council Philip Coppel KC EFDC the Home Office
The Bell Hotel has been housing asylum seekers since 2020 (Robert White/PA) - (PA Wire)

A hotel company that is housing asylum seekers in Essex is breaching planning controls in a “serious, flagrant and continuing” way, the High Court has been told.

Epping Forest District Council (EFDC) is taking legal action against Somani Hotels over the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping, with the Home Office intervening in the case.

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