A Government decision not to house single male asylum seekers in a North Yorkshire hotel has been welcomed by politicians.
The Home Office has written to North Yorkshire Council to confirm that it will not be pursuing the plan for Allerton Court Hotel in Northallerton.
The hotel has housed family groups of asylum seekers for several years.
But officials drew up new plans to instead use the hotel for single male asylum seekers.
This prompted the council to write to the owner of the hotel as well as the Home Office to express concerns that a change of use could breach planning regulations and lead to legal action.
North Yorkshire Council’s leader, Councillor Carl Les, said: “I welcome the decision by the Home Office to not house single male asylum seekers at Allerton Court Hotel.
“We were very clear with the Government that we had concerns should the plans have been pursued to use the hotel to house numbers of single males. Our view is that this would be entirely inappropriate in the town location.”
Richmond and Northallerton MP Rishi Sunak also welcomed the decision.
The MP said he raised his concerns with the Home Office and had worked closely with North Yorkshire Council on the issue.
“This is very welcome news for Northallerton,” he added.
“I know how strongly local people felt about the potential changes and I shared their concerns.
“I am grateful to North Yorkshire Council for the action they took in making clear the strength of local opposition.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands the council believed it would have a strong case to challenge the new use of Allerton Court on planning grounds should the Home Office have taken the plans forward.
