Housing asylum seekers at a hotel is causing an “unacceptable” risk to public safety, the High Court has been told.

Epping Forest District Council has applied for a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from being housed at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex.

Protests began outside the hotel last month and Essex Police said at one point up to 2,000 people were demonstrating near the hotel and 16 people have been charged with offences relating to the disturbances.

Philip Coppel KC, representing the authority at the Royal Courts of Justice, said: “The protests have unfortunately been attended by violence and disorder.”

Protests have been staged at the hotel since a man living there was charged with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

Hadush Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, has denied the offences and remains on remand in custody.

Mr Justice Eyre is hearing submissions from the 80-room hotel’s owners into Friday afternoon, but said it was “unlikely” that a ruling would come this week.

The council lodged the application on Tuesday and asked that it take effect within 14 days in the event it was granted.

Mr Coppel said: “Epping Forest District Council comes to this court seeking an injunction because it has a very serious problem.

“There has been what can be described as an increase in community tension, the catalyst of which has been the use of The Bell Hotel to place asylum seekers.

“It is a problem that is causing great local anxiety.”

Mr Coppel said that the defendant, Somani Hotels, “did not advise or notify the local planning authority” to seek its views on the use of the site.

“It was not until two months later, when Epping Forest received a complaint about the use, that the matter came to the planning department’s attention,” he continued.

He added the hotel was no longer a true hotel because the residents had not chosen to stay there, like ordinary guests.

“For them, the Bell Hotel is no more a hotel than is a borstal to a young offender,” he said.

It did not appear on booking sites and people did not go there for meals, drinks or meetings, he added.

“It has been emptied out of all of the uses and purposes,” said Mr Coppel.

The council told the court in written submissions residents were reported to be scared and local businesses suffering.

Councillors feared the area was at “breaking point” and there was a “persistent atmosphere of tension” since the town had become a “focal point”.

Mr Coppel pointed out there were three schools with 1,800 students within a one-kilometre (0.6 mile) radius of the hotel, and they would soon be re-opening for the autumn term.

“This sort of risk must be removed,” he added.

Lawyers representing Somani Hotels told the court that an injunction would cause asylum seekers “hardship” and that the move would set “a dangerous precedent that protests justify planning injunctions”.

Piers Riley-Smith, for the hotel firm, told the court in written submissions that the injunction bid should be delayed to a later date and that the Home Office’s contracted service provider, Corporate Travel Management (North) Limited (CTM), should be involved in the case.

He said the alleged planning breach was “not flagrant”, and it was “entirely wrong” for the council to “suggest the use has been hidden from them”.

The hotel previously housed asylum seekers from May 2020 to March 2021, and from October 2022 to April 2024, he added.

The Home Office previously told the BBC: “It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.”

England and union flags being flown across parts of Birmingham are being taken down due to maintenance works.

Locals hanging the Union Jack and St George’s Cross in the Weoley Castle and Northfield areas of the city said they were doing so in an act of patriotism.

But Birmingham City Council issued a safety plea to residents attaching the flags to lampposts and other street furniture.

It said it was upgrading streetlights to energy-efficient LED lighting and had so far removed about 200 banners and flags.

A statement issued by the council said the work would reduce energy use and lower maintenance costs.

It said: “Work is due to begin imminently, and lamp columns need to remain free from attachments so work can be carried out as quickly and safely as possible.

“People who attach unauthorised items to lampposts could be putting their lives and those of motorists and pedestrians at risk.

“We [are] continuing to do this every week and would ask that staff doing this work are allowed to continue this work unhindered.”

The council’s plan has sparked an online debate from residents of Weoley Castle.

One person said they loved seeing the flags around the neighbourhood, adding “unfortunately the council own the lampposts so it’s their property.”

A fundraiser has been organised by campaigners Weoley Warriors to raise money for more flags. With more than £4,000 gathered so far – the group said its aim was to “give hope to local communities”.

But the council’s statement said placing “unauthorised attachments” on street furniture could be dangerous – adding that “stress tests” were carried out by the council ahead of celebrations in the city.

It said: “Lampposts are engineered for their specific purpose, and adding extra weight or stress from flags and attachments can cause them to weaken over time, potentially leading to collapse.”

A Labour councillor who called for far-right protesters’ throats to be cut at an anti-racism rally has been found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder.

Ricky Jones, 58, has been on trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court after he called demonstrators “disgusting Nazi fascists” and said “we need to get rid of them all” while addressing a crowd in Walthamstow on 7 August last year.

Mr Jones told police his remarks, captured on video, were “ill-advised” and not intended to incite or encourage violence.

The Dartford councillor, who has since been suspended by the Labour Party, had denied the charge.

A video showing Mr Jones addressing crowds in Walthamstow last year went viral on social media after the protest, which had been organised in response to plans for a far-right march outside Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau.

He also drew his finger across his throat as he spoke to the crowd.

Mr Jones was arrested the day after making the comments and told the court he felt it was his “duty” to attend counter-protests.

Jurors deliberated for just over half an hour before finding him not guilty on Friday.

At the time of the incident, Mr Jones was employed as a full-time official for the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) union.

He has been a borough councillor since 2019 but was suspended by the Labour Party on 8 August last year.

Prosecutor Ben Holt previously told the court Mr Jones used “inflammatory, rabble-rousing language in the throng of a crowd described as a tinderbox”.

He told jurors Mr Jones’s speech was amplified through a microphone and speakers and took place “in a setting where violence could readily have been anticipated”.

Giving evidence in his trial, Mr Jones said his comment did not refer to far-right protesters involved in the riots at the time, but to those who had reportedly left National Front stickers on a train with razor blades hidden behind them.

Before he made the comment, jurors were shown video where he said to crowds: “You’ve got women and children using these trains during the summer holidays.

“They don’t [care] who they hurt.”

He told the court he was “appalled” by political violence, adding: “I’ve always believed the best way to make people realise who you are and what you are is to do it peacefully.”