(MENAFN) Asylum seekers staying at a hotel in Epping, northeast of London, will be permitted to remain after the British government won an appeal in a prominent legal case on Friday.

A prior High Court decision had ordered 138 men at the Bell Hotel to leave by September 12. The Court of Appeal overturned that ruling, with Lord Justice Bean stating the earlier judgment contained “a number of errors that undermine his decision.” During the appeal, the Home Office and the hotel argued that forcing the men to leave could disrupt the broader asylum accommodation system.

Lord Justice Bean noted, “The judge’s approach ignores the obvious consequence that the closure of one site means capacity needs to be identified elsewhere in the system.” He added that the High Court’s injunction “may incentivize” other councils to pursue similar legal challenges, saying, “The potential cumulative impact of such ad hoc applications was a material consideration … that was not considered by the judge.”

As a result of the ruling, asylum seekers will continue to reside at the Bell Hotel, easing immediate strain on the Home Office’s housing network. Despite government efforts to reduce reliance on temporary accommodations, official figures show that 32,059 asylum seekers were staying in hotels nationwide at the end of June—an 8% increase from a year earlier, though below the peak of 56,042 in September 2023.

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