A question raised by a Conservative councillor over whether a Southampton hotel has the correct planning permission to house asylum seekers was met with a single-word reply from the city’s planning panel chair.
Sarah Powell-Vaughan, Conservative councillor for Sholing, submitted a written question to the chair of Southampton’s planning and rights of way panel: “Do you have concerns over hotels in Southampton not having the correct Planning and Rights of Way Permission to house immigrants?” The written reply from Cllr Vivienne Windle, provided for the full council meeting on Wednesday, 24 September, simply read: “No.”
The issue was pressed further at the meeting by Conservative group leader Peter Baillie, standing in for Powell-Vaughan in her absence. He asked: “Just to clarify, are all hotels being used to house immigrants in Southampton confirmed to have the necessary planning permission for this type of use, or would it require a review by planning officers to be certain?”
Currently, only one hotel in Southampton is being used to accommodate asylum seekers: the Highfield House Hotel in Portswood.
The question was answered by Labour’s Sarah Bogle, cabinet member for economic development. Cllr Bogle replied: “It’s still a hotel so I don’t see any change to planning required. To be fair I think this question should have been struck off because it’s not a question to planning and rights of way, it’s a political question.”
Cllr Baillie followed up: “I couldn’t see any particular reason not to allow it either. So everything does have the required necessary planning permissions for that use, yep?” Cllr Bogle said: “Yes, as far as I understand it. This is the only one left from the previous government’s imposition of this use and the previous ones—there was no issue, like the Dolphin. So as far as I know there’s no issue.”
Campaigners from the Reform UK Southampton team have submitted a campaign to investigate whether the Highfield House Hotel has the necessary planning requirements. In a column for Southampton Times, Dr Alexander Culley of Reform UK wrote:
“Did the operators of the Highfield House Hotel submit a planning application to transition from C1 hotel to longer-term accommodation? Based on our searches of the public database operated by Southampton City Council, which lists all planning applications and their outcomes, we could not find any evidence of this.”
Dr Culley added that Southampton City Council is the relevant authority for planning matters and could, if it wished, apply for an interim injunction regarding the use of the hotel. However, private individuals or outside organisations cannot do so under section 187B—such powers are reserved for the local planning authority.
While private citizens could theoretically pursue judicial review or private nuisance actions, such moves are likely to be costly and uncertain in outcome, even with the help of crowdfunding, Dr Culley notes. Instead, he suggested that residents put political pressure on the council by contacting local MPs and councillors or by using the council’s reporting forms.
Reform UK, which currently has no councillors on Southampton City Council, submitted a report of a potential enforcement breach regarding “unauthorised change of use”, citing a spike in community tensions and pressure on police resources as potential harms.
