Asylum seekers being moved from Essex hotel

All asylum seekers living at a hotel in Essex will be moved out "over the coming weeks", the local council has said.

The Phoenix Hotel on the A414 near North Weald has been used by the Home Office in recent years.

Chris Whitbread, the Conservative leader at Epping Forest District Council, said he was "delighted" to hear the news and said the hotel never met the "basic requirements" to be asylum accommodation.

The Home Office was contacted for comment.

"We have always argued that placing vulnerable individuals in isolated rural areas or small communities like the Phoenix Hotel without comprehensive support services or proper infrastructure is reckless and fails both the local community and the asylum seekers," said Whitbread.

"At last, I can now say to our community there are no hotels in the Epping Forest district used to house asylum seekers."

Migrants were also moved out of the Bell Hotel in Epping earlier this summer.

The site became the centre point of protests after an asylum seeker living at the hotel was arrested and later jailed for sexual assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman.

In April this year, another asylum seeker was jailed for deliberately starting fires at both the Phoenix Hotel and the Bell Hotel.

Epping Forest District Council said the news of the removal at the Phoenix came as a surprise and Whitbread said he was "deeply disappointed" the Home Office did not "communicate with us in a timely manner".

All occupants had been notified and would be relocated to other parts of the asylum estate, the council added.

Jon Whitehouse, the leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the council, also welcomed the news.

"The [Phoenix Hotel] was far from ideal for the families placed there," said Whitehouse.

"Hopefully we can see both hotels back in use to benefit our local residents and local economy."

Ready Homes - a subsidiary of Clearsprings Ready Homes Ltd which provides the housing on the government's behalf - was also approached for comment.

Do you have a story suggestion for Essex? Contact us below.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.