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On 27 July 2023, the High Court granted an injunction against protest activity opposed to asylum seekers at Stradey Park Hotel in Wales. This follows on from the High Court’s dismissal of Carmarthenshire County Council’s application for a planning injunction preventing the use.
The Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli, Wales, was intended to be used to provide accommodation for asylum seekers from 10 July 2023. Those plans have faced opposition from the local Council, local residents and from ‘far right’ protest groups opposed to this intended use of the Hotel.
On 7 July 2023, Gavin Mansfield KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, dismissed an application by Carmarthenshire County Council for an injunction under s.187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 prohibiting the use of the hotel for housing asylum seekers. Whilst the Court considered there was a serious issue to be tried as to whether the proposed use might represent a breach of planning control, the Court determined that the issue was likely to be finely balanced, such that if there were a breach it would not be flagrant. The High Court noted that, unlike in Great Yarmouth BC v. Al-Abdin & Ors ([2022] EWHC 3476 (KB)), there was no clear development plan policy against such a change of use and decided that the ‘balance of harm’ test fell firmly in favour of refusing to grant the Council’s application for the injunction. The Council has since dropped its substantive claim.
Following the dismissal of the Council’s application, protest activity intensified at the Stradey Park Hotel. Protestors, some of whom were described as being “intoxicated and rowdy” and displaying “racist slogans”, blocked access to the Hotel to prevent asylum seekers from being moved in. There was also evidence of protestors entering the Hotel’s grounds in response to proceedings in the Courts.
On 27 July 2023, the High Court granted an interim injunction to restrain unlawful protest activity by ‘persons unknown’ at the Hotel.
This Order was made by Roger ter Haar KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, after a without notice hearing on 25 July 2023 was adjourned (with the Hotel’s consent) to enable the Court to hear from non-party local residents who wished to make representations on the application.
At the inter partes hearing on 27 July 2023, DCHJ ter Haar KC permitted local residents to address the Court. They made points about the impact of the intended use of the Hotel on the community and local economy and some raised concerns about the far right elements of some of the protest activity itself.
In giving judgment, DCHJ ter Haar stressed that it was not his role to decide the rights and wrongs of the Government’s general asylum policy or its applications. His role was to consider the peaceful rights of protest and the rights of the hotel owners in respect of the use of their property.
The Court proceeded to apply the well-established American Cyanamid test for interim relief. In doing so, DCHJ ter Haar KC found there to be a serious issue to be tried on trespass, private and public nuisance, for which damages would not provide an appropriate remedy (having regard here to the judgment of Julian Knowles J in HS2 Ltd v. Persons Unknown [2022] EWHC 2360 (KB) at [91]). He concluded that the balance of convenience lay squarely in favour of the Hotel owner, having given due consideration to the Article 10 and 11 ECHR rights of protestors to freedom of expression and assembly. The Court also had regard to the guidance set out in Canada Goose UK Retail Ltd v Persons Unknown [2020] 1 WLR 2802 at [82] in relation to pursuing claims against ‘persons unknown’, and found those criteria to be satisfied in this case.
The injunction was granted in the terms sought.
Jenny Wigley KC represented the hotel owner, Gryphon Leisure Limited and the Home Office service provider, Clearsprings Ready Homes Limited, in their successful defence to the Council’s application for the planning injunction.
Jenny Wigley KC and Natasha Jackson represented Gryphon Leisure Limited in their successful application for the injunction order limiting the protest activity to ensure unobstructed access to the hotel.
