Home Office targeting student accommodation for asylum accommodation

The news comes after Leeds City Council received a submission from the department for a certificate of proposed lawful development to allow a student block to be used to house non-students.

The Government told the council its submission was part of a wider central government effort to reduce the reliance on hotel use for those seeking asylum.

If approved, the submission will allow the Home Office to place asylum seekers in Mary Morris House, on Shire Oak Road, without needing to apply for planning permission.

Leeds is set to issue a decision on the submission in October.

The department has previously said it plans to end the asylum hotel programme by the end of this Parliament, and has reduced the number of hotels being used from 400 in the summer of 2023 to 210.

The controversial programme has also seen a series of legal challenges, with Epping Forest District Council launching the most recent challenge earlier this year.

The Essex council applied for a full injunction against the use of the Bell Hotel in Epping, which had been the subject of protests in the town.

A full injunction hearing is scheduled to take place in October.

Adam Carey