Conservatives Demand Review of Witney Hotel’s Use for Asylum Seekers

(WITNEY) The former Witney Four Pillars Hotel will continue to house asylum seekers through the end of the year after the Home Office extended its contract to December 2025, intensifying a local and national fight over hotel-based accommodation. Conservative politicians, citing a fresh High Court injunction in Essex, are urging councils to test the Witney arrangement in court. West Oxfordshire District Council (WODC) says it is not party to the contract, which started in November 2022, but remains involved in a multi‑agency group supporting residents at the site.

National pressure is rising as councils test new legal routes and the government searches for alternatives. VisaVerge.com reports that as of June 2025, 32,059 asylum seekers were living in hotels across the UK, slightly down on spring but about 8% higher than a year earlier. Government spending on asylum accommodation reached £4.76 billion in 2024/25, down from £5.38 billion in 2023/24. Despite pledges to shift people into other sites, less than 1% were placed in bases or vessels, with just 500 people housed that way by December 2024.

Legal ripple from Essex ruling

The legal backdrop changed on August 20, 2025, when the High Court granted Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction to block the Bell Hotel in Essex from use as asylum accommodation, citing planning breaches and public safety concerns. The court ordered all residents moved out by September 12, 2025, pending a full hearing in the autumn.

The Home Office said it is “carefully considering” the ruling, while Security Minister Dan Jarvis admitted hotels are not a long‑term answer and said ministers are seeking alternatives, without setting clear timelines.

That Essex order has emboldened politicians who oppose long hotel stays. Senior Conservative Kemi Badenoch urged Tory‑led councils to mount similar challenges, with Witney among the cases being discussed. Labour‑run authorities are weighing action of their own, and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called on his party’s councillors to follow the Essex path.

If more injunctions arrive quickly, the Home Office could face a mass relocation effort with few ready places to send people.

Key legal steps councils are using to challenge hotel use:
1. Identify possible planning law breaches, such as a hotel operating as a hostel without consent.
2. Gather evidence on safety risks, local disturbances, or changes to the area’s character.
3. Apply to the High Court for a temporary injunction to pause use of the site.
4. If granted, meet any court deadline to move residents, as Essex did for September 12, 2025.
5. Prepare for a full hearing that can set wider precedent.

Local response in West Oxfordshire

WODC confirms that the Witney site will keep operating until at least December 2025 and stresses it cannot cancel the arrangement. The council says its focus is on practical help: health access, safeguarding, and community relations. WODC remains involved through a multi‑agency support group for residents.

Protests and counter‑protests have taken place in Witney and other towns, often sparked by high‑profile criminal allegations involving hotel residents in unrelated locations. Police have stepped up patrols at times to calm tensions and protect people on all sides.

Impact on residents and community

• For hundreds of asylum seekers, the hotel is a place of long waiting and uncertainty.
  • Months in a single room can harm mental health, disrupt schooling for children, and slow English learning.
  • Daily life usually involves meals at set times, periodic GP appointments, and long waits for asylum decisions.
  • Local volunteers provide support with English classes and drop-in sessions.
• For nearby businesses and families:
  • The long closure of normal hotel services is felt as a loss of local amenity.
  • Nearby residents are split: some want the hotel restored to normal use; others urge patience and kindness toward families seeking safety.

Advocacy groups are urging the government to move vulnerable people into community housing and to tighten checks on private accommodation providers contracted by the state.

Political responses

• Conservatives (including Kemi Badenoch) view the Essex injunction as a tool to “restore local control” and reduce pressure on public services.
• Some Labour councils are now considering similar legal action after initially resisting litigation.
• Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has pushed to revive the Rwanda removals plan as a deterrent to new crossings, linking hotel numbers to wider border policy.
• Reform UK backs immediate legal moves and criticizes the cost of long‑term hotel use.

Amid the politics, the Home Office must find beds for people displaced by the Essex ruling and any future orders. Officials say they are exploring options but have not detailed how many homes, rooms, or alternative sites are coming online.

For official guidance on what support people waiting on an asylum decision can get, including accommodation and cash allowances, see: https://www.gov.uk/asylum-support/what-youll-get.

What happens next for residents

The next few weeks will test whether the Essex case remains a local outlier or becomes a template for councils nationwide. Potential outcomes include:

• More interim injunctions that could force rapid relocations.
• A full court hearing in the Essex matter this autumn that might set firm precedent on planning law and public safety.
• Continued political pressure and searching for alternative accommodation solutions while the Witney contract runs to December 2025.

If similar injunctions are granted elsewhere, including in Oxfordshire, the Home Office may have to relocate thousands of people quickly, even while contracts such as Witney’s remain active.

Important warnings and deadlines:
– The Essex ruling required residents to be moved by September 12, 2025.
– The Witney contract runs until December 2025 — a fixed near‑term deadline with no clear alternative housing outlined.

There is no clear end‑state yet. The contract clock is ticking, the courts are active, and national budgets are tight. What happens in Witney will speak to a bigger question facing the country: whether the current system can shift away from hotels at scale, and how quickly. For now, the Witney Four Pillars Hotel remains a test case in real time, with legal, political, and human stakes that reach far beyond Oxfordshire.