Injunction against asylum seekers hotel defended by council chief

Sheila Oxtoby, Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) chief executive, discussed the council's decision to take legal action against the Home Office - following the placement of 80 asylum seekers in the town’s Hotel Victoria - on Wednesday's BBC Radio Four's 'Today' programme.

In October, GYBC obtained an interim injunction from the High Court to stop a second Great Yarmouth hotel - The Embassy - from being used as accommodation for asylum seekers.

The Embassy Hotel (Image: Liz Coates)

Speaking on the programme, Ms Oxtoby said: "We've always offered to work with the Home Office to find the most suitable accommodation and the best solution for both the asylum seekers and the existing community.

"But that has largely fallen on deaf ears, and our offer has not been taken up."

The chief executive said the council feels "imposed" upon as the Home Office selected two "successful hotels in a prime tourism area" to accommodate asylum seekers. The council objected to this as the Home Office and the hotels "do not have permission for change of use from the planning authority".

Ms Oxtoby added that Great Yarmouth has "a long history of welcoming refugees and economic migrants" and the town "celebrates" its "mixed and diverse" communities.

"We've always said that we would work with the Home Office to find appropriate and suitable accommodation for a manageable number of asylum seekers," Ms Oxtoby said.

"And this is a national issue.

"But our issue has been the approach which the Home Office has taken, which has not been consultative.

"We have not been engaged in conversations about finding the most appropriate accommodation [or] working with our local community."

Almost 40,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year.

Many asylum seekers had been placed at the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent. The site, located at a former Ministry of Defence fire training centre, opened in January 2022 and was designed to hold up to 1,600 people for no more than 24 hours.

Following reports that over 4,000 asylum seekers were living in overcrowded conditions, amid strong criticism of home secretary Suella Braverman, it was announced that 400 asylum seekers had been moved on Tuesday.

A coach arrives at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent (Image: PA Wire/PA Images)