Planning and Infrastructure Bill

Baroness Laing of Elderslie Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 4th September 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Fuller (Con)]

I will answer the noble Lord’s question directly, because this is an unsatisfactory state of affairs. The points I have just made—

[Baroness Laing of Elderslie (Con)]

Will the noble Lord clarify the point? In particular, the argument before us is that some hotels in some places are not suitable for asylum seekers. The previous Conservative Government recognised this point and closed the Bell Hotel in Epping in April 2024. I know because I asked them to do so, and they did so taking into account the opinions and sensitivities of local people, which have been ignored by the current Government.

[Lord Carlile of Berriew (CB)]

Since the noble Baroness provokes me to return to the question, I ask the noble Lord whether he agrees that 400 hotels were in use for asylum seekers in 2023 and that the reduction that took place was met with no change in asylum law that enabled the new Government to address the situation in a constructive way?

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I am concerned about people being accommodated in hotels, and there are impacts on local communities, but I stress that those hotels are inappropriate accommodation for asylum seekers—they are inadequate accommodation that is not providing for them appropriately. What we should do is welcome the vast majority of these people, who will be recognised as refugees, providing a mechanism whereby their applications are processed far faster so that they do not have to stay there. Indeed, I presented a proposal yesterday from the Refugee Council on how to ensure that we would not need hotels in about a year. Better still, my honourable friend in the other place, the MP for Bristol Central, pointed out that, if we allowed asylum seekers to work, we would also not need the hotels. This group of amendments is entirely inappropriate and wrong, as I hope we will hear from other sides of the Committee as well.

[Baroness Laing of Elderslie (Con)]

My Lords, it is interesting to hear what the noble Baroness has just said. Of course, I am sure we must all agree with her about the inappropriateness of hotels for asylum seekers to use as long-term accommodation. I am sure there is widespread agreement on that, but she seems to be ignoring the fact that this amendment clarifies, as the noble Lord, Lord Banner, most carefully and accurately explained, a degree of uncertainty in the current law that is causing considerable difficulties.

I must not pretend that I am not talking about Epping and I suppose I have to declare an interest because I live very close to the Bell Hotel and I represented the constituency in the other place for 27 years. I can tell the noble Baroness who has just spoken that the opinions and feelings of local people are important in planning decisions. The noble Baroness who has proposed Amendment 135HZB is trying to clarify the situation so that we do not have future situations like the one that has developed in the small town of Epping, where people are coming from all over the country every Thursday and Sunday to make their voices heard in a way that is inappropriate and unsuitable. When a situation such as that develops, it is incumbent on the Government of the day and the legislature to take action to try to make sure that it does not happen in future and to learn from the facts unfolding before us right now in real time.

The noble Baroness has brought forward this amendment and my noble friends have brought forward other amendments in this group to try to help the Government to clarify the situation. I sincerely hope that the Minister will look at this group in that light and that, rather than just sticking to the brief, which is “Do not accept any amendments”, she will be able to consider that the world changes all the time and that, in recent times, the world has changed as far as the way in which we look after asylum seekers is concerned, because there are far more. It does not matter when the problem started or who was in government at that time; what matters is what we do now as a legislature. That is our duty and responsibility. We have the chance today to enact this amendment, which would alleviate the situation and mean that the opinions and sensitivities of local people are taken into consideration in important planning decisions. That is not too much to ask of a democratically elected Government.

[Lord Teverson (LD)]

My Lords, I am sorry, but the past does matter. It is incredible to me that the party in opposition filled up 400 hotels with asylum seekers, did not think ahead about these issues and then complains about it once the horse has bolted. That is pretty shameful and I think the culpability is on my right rather than opposite.

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[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, the sheer hypocrisy of those on the Conservative Benches seems to know no bounds. As we have heard, it was in 2020 that this scale and number of hotels being used for asylum seekers began in earnest. It seems that it has taken five years for Members on the Conservative Benches to come to the conclusion that it may have been necessary for the use of these hotels to require planning consent. What on earth has triggered their sudden interest in planning issues for hotels harbouring asylum seekers? I am struggling to think what the issue could be. What I do know—

[Baroness Laing of Elderslie (Con)]

I will give the noble Baroness one brief answer to her question. An asylum seeker who was living at the Bell Hotel in Epping has been found guilty of the sexual assault of a young girl. That is just one small reason.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

Yes, there were 400 hotels—we have heard from my noble friend Lady Coffey the reasons for that. But in 2024, just before we left government, we were down to 213 hotels. By now, if we were still in government, we would not have any hotels; we were working the number down. It would have helped if the Government opposite, when they first came into power, supported the deterrent that we were going to have—we would then not have the problem.