Migrant hotel breaches planning rules over ‘glorified sheds’ to house asylum seekers

Dunchurch Park Hotel used to market itself as an “idyllic and romantic setting” for weddings. 

A Grade II* Regency lodge set in 72 acres of manicured gardens, its website included instructions for arriving by helicopter.

Now it is home to dozens of migrant families - and the owners find themselves embroiled in a planning battle to set up 40 wooden cabins to house more migrants, in another symbol of the Government’s floundering refugee policy.

The hotel, outside Rugby, in Warwickshire, has been housing migrants since Sept 2021, cancelling multiple weddings and bookings as it temporarily shifted to a new business model. 

It had been struggling since the pandemic, and the owners saw a government contract as a “short-term solution” that would “provide a firm foundation upon which to build a post-Covid recovery”.

With the Home Office seemingly overwhelmed by the number of arrivals and struggling to process their applications at speed, Dunchurch Park’s move appears to have proved a successful business decision.

“Encouraged” by its success, the hotel bought the cabins, hoping to temporarily expand its ability to house migrants. However, the management mistakenly believed, it is claimed, that it did not need planning permission.

A retroactive application, which also included a security cabin and a children’s play area, was rejected by Rugby Borough Council on Wednesday amid multiple objections - including from Jeremy Wright, the local MP, and Historic England.  

The hotel owners, however, may yet appeal. The Telegraph made multiple attempts to contact the hotel and its agents, but was unsuccessful. 

Row after row of wooden huts can now be seen lined up in the car park, although they are not yet ready for living in. The Telegraph spoke to one worker who had been fitting them out, who said he was sent home on Thursday morning following the council's decision. 

It is understood that the intention was for the huts to house single migrants, freeing up more space in the main hotel for families.

The residents of the hotel themselves are stuck in limbo. One couple who spoke to The Telegraph said they had been in Dunchurch for seven months. While they had been granted the right to stay, they were still waiting to be rehomed and to be given identity cards. 

Other families had been there for a full year, they said. They described their joy at being in England, but said the conditions were not good in the hotel.

“I have two daughters and so it’s been four of us in one room for seven months,” said the wife. 

“The bathrooms are shared with 30 people, so it’s really hard to use them,” added her husband.

The family had travelled to the UK from northern Iraq. They reached France hidden in a lorry, before crossing the Channel by boat. 

They said that they came to England because they had been told that France and other countries were more likely to deport them.

Asylum seekers are not legally allowed to work in the UK, so the residents spend their days wandering the local countryside, watching films in the hotel projector room and playing pool.

One local told The Telegraph that the migrants were desperate to work and even offered to help with construction taking place at the hotel. The builders, however, were not able to take up the offer because of the risk of an accident. 

Local residents The Telegraph spoke to said they had had no issues with the migrants staying at the hotel, although several criticised the way in which the hotel appeared to have tried to bypass planning laws.

“The refugees have been as nice as pie, but the one thing I don’t like is the sneakiness of the hotel in bringing in the huts,” said one man who did not want to give his name.

“They know the rules and regs, they’ve just hoped they can blag their way out of it,” said a woman walking her dog nearby said - adding: “It’s not nice for the refugees either, living in a glorified shed.”

Several residents expressed concern about the possibility that the cabins would be kept even after normal service resumed at the hotel, changing its nature. 

Before the government contract and the additional security that comes with it, local residents were welcome to visit the gardens and walk their dogs.

The hotel owners insist the cabins are only temporary, while plans for the cabins show them to be far from luxurious. “They’re pretty basic, you’ve got your bed and a tiny, tiny kitchen and just one room,” said the cabin worker.

Regardless of last week’s ruling, many residents expected the huts to get permission eventually. 

Tom Costello, a Dunchurch local drinking in the pub put it this way: “I understand that some people will be angry about the huts, but everybody has got to live somewhere and that's a practical solution to the problem. 

“And no matter how much you get angry about it, you won’t stop it from happening, so why delay it?”