Court of Appeal refuses permission to challenge Epping Bell Hotel injunction decision

The Court of Appeal has today (13 March 2026) handed down its judgment in Epping Forest DC v Somani Hotels Ltd & Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2026] EWCA Civ 264 refusing permission for Epping Forest to appeal the High Court’s dismissal in November 2025 ([2025] EWHC 2937 (KB)) of its application for a final injunction to prevent the Bell Hotel in Epping being used to accommodate destitute asylum seekers.

Unusually the permission application was considered at an oral hearing (on 5 March 2026), with judgment reserved, rather than being decided on the papers. In summary, Holgate and Andrews LJJ held that Mould J had not erred in approaching his analysis under s.187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 by proceeding on an assumption in Epping’s favour that the use of the Hotel amounted to a material change of use, without making any finding on that basis. They also dismissed as unarguable various challenges Epping made to Mould J’s assessment of the law or the evidence before him at the substantive hearing.

Epping also sought permission to challenge costs orders made by Mould J in favour of Somani and the Secretary of State. The Court held that Epping’s case was unarguable in both respects.

This decision brings to an end litigation which commenced in August 2025, when Epping first sought both interim and final injunctions against the use of the Hotel for the accommodation of asylum seekers following protests at the site. Epping was initially granted an interim injunction by Eyre J ([2025] EWHC 2183 (KB)), which decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal ([2025] EWCA Civ 1134) in September 2025. Permission to appeal that decision was refused by the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal (overturning a decision by Eyre J) allowed the Secretary of State to intervene in the case because of the impact of the injunctions sought on her statutory duty to accommodate destitute asylum seekers.

Jenny Wigley KC appeared for Somani Hotels in the final injunction claim and appeal, leading Piers-Riley Smith.

Katharine Elliot appeared for the Secretary of State in both the interim and final injunction claims and appeals, led by Ed Brown KC and James Strachan KC respectively.