The Court of Appeal has overturned an interim injunction that would have blocked 138 asylum seekers from being housed at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex. Somani Hotels, which owns the Bell, and the Home Office challenged a High Court ruling by Mr Justice Eyre that would have allowed the accommodation to continue beyond 12 September. Following a Thursday hearing, three appeal judges ruled in favour of the hotel owner and the government, saying Eyre’s ruling was seriously flawed in principle.

Lord Justice Bean, delivering the judgment with Lady Justice Nicola Davies and Lord Justice Cobb, said: “We conclude that the judge made a number of errors in principle, which undermine this decision.” The court noted that closing one site would require finding capacity elsewhere in the system, and warned the injunction could incentivise other councils to take similar steps. The ruling emphasised that the appeals did not address the merits of government policy on asylum accommodation, and the full written judgment, which runs to more than 120 paragraphs, will be published later.

The Bell has been the focus of protests after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl; Kebatu denies the offence and is on trial. Edward Brown KC, for the Home Office, said the interim injunction risked prompting further protests and disorder. Somani Hotels’ counsel, Piers Riley-Smith, argued Eyre had overlooked the hardship for asylum seekers if they were forced to move and warned the case could set a precedent. The hotel previously housed asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021, and has done so again since April this year. The latest Home Office data show 32,059 asylum seekers in UK hotels by the end of June, up from 29,585 a year earlier but down from 32,345 at the end of March.