The Cabinet member for planning on Broxbourne Borough Council has said they are "determined" to take action against migrant hotels in their area, following Epping's recent success.
Speaking to GB News, Councillor Paul Mason declared the ongoing migrant hotel crisis an "outrage", highlighting the "strain" on his local community.
On Tuesday, a High Court judge granted Epping Forest District Council a temporary injunction to block asylum seekers from being housed at The Bell Hotel, following continued mass protest from locals.
**ARE YOU READING THIS ON OUR APP? DOWNLOAD NOW FOR THE BEST GB NEWS EXPERIENCE**
Broxbourne Councillor Paul Mason says his authority is 'determined' to take legal action after Epping's asylum hotel victory
|GB NEWS
Mr Mason told GB News: "As soon as we saw the result yesterday, we were first out the traps to ensure that we would look at taking any advice in pursuing the same course of action that Epping has taken.
"It’s the strain on the community, strain on public services, that's another problem. It’s our medical services, our housing. It is a big, big strain, and it is a cost to the community. It's important for us as local council to make sure that we protect the needs of local people."
The Cabinet member also raised concerns about security issues at the accommodation sites, citing "complaints" from the migrants about the food they are being served.
He said: "Over the last couple of years, we've had incidents where the police have been called, where some of the people in the hotels have been kicking up and rioting over the quality of the food, which is being paid for by the taxpayer.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Epping locals celebrated the victory outside the migrant hotel following the verdict on Tuesday
| GB NEWS"Personally, I think it's an absolute national disgrace that we're borrowing money to pay for people that are coming over, putting them up in luxury hotels and funding it."
Mr Mason expressed strong criticism of the Government's approach to unsuccessful asylum applications, claiming they are left to "walk out onto the streets" rather than being deported.
He explained: "What's worse, once their asylum application has been assessed, what we're finding is they're just opening the doors, throwing them out the hotel and they're walking out onto the street. We're not even deporting them.
"This is what the public don’t know. The Government aren't deporting people when their applications have failed, they're opening the door and sending them out to local councils to be housed."
Mr Mason told GB News that the migrant hotel crisis is an 'outrage'
|GB NEWS
Detailing the council's plan to follow Epping's process in taking legal action, Mr Mason concluded: "At the moment our lawyers at the council are looking at taking legal advice. We are speaking to Epping and we are looking at the merits of their case and looking at how we can apply those same processes to the action that we take.
"We are really determined to do something. It's just not good enough. There are lots of concerns in the local community about the hotels."
He added: "Our local MP Lewis Cocking, he's made a number of statements in Parliament. He's written to the Home Secretary, he thinks they should be detained, and I wouldn't disagree with his view.
"We should be controlling them. That's the responsibility of the government and the Home Office. But they shouldn't be just put in the community, taking over our local hotels and the Home Office paying large sums of money, millions and millions of pounds, to put them in these hotels."