The bombshell court ruling which has thrown the UK’s asylum policy into disarray could have been avoided two years ago, The i Paper can reveal.

A hidden blunder by the Conservative Council in Epping means a crucial planning decision on the acceptable use of The Bell Hotel was not dealt with in 2023, documents show.

Instead an application to allow the use of the hotel to house migrants was allowed to lapse, setting in train the events that led to this week’s High Court injunction. Some local councillors believe the local authority thought the issue was too sensitive to deal with two years ago so let it “slide into the long grass”. New Feature

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This week, Epping Forest District Council secured a High Court injunction to stop asyl

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