Eastbourne hotel to stop housing asylum seekers

During a recent visit with the Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, Eastbourne and Willingdon MP confirmed that a further hotel will cease to house asylum seekers.

She said: “A significant concern from our hoteliers and hospitality industry, and others, has been the continued use of our hotels for asylum seekers.

“Our hotels must all be returned to their primary purpose, and I have worked with the Home Office last year, to this end.

“When I met with the (immigration) minister again this week, I was informed that another hotel will be released in the weeks to come.”

The news comes after the government confirmed that two hotels in the town stopped housing asylum seekers in October 2023.

The properties were part of the first wave of 50 hotels across the country to stop taking migrants because of the impact on Eastbourne’s visitor economy, according to MP Caroline Ansell.

She said at the time: “I am very pleased these two hotels in Eastbourne will no longer be used to house asylum seekers and hopefully they can go back to taking our tourists. This is something I committed to when I met hoteliers and B&B owners and it is a boost to our town.

“What this means is that some asylum seekers still in the assessment process will be more appropriately housed. It is right that there is a fairer and more equitable dispersal across the region and country and that coastal communities do not bear the brunt."