A HOTEL in Bewdley will stop housing asylum seekers from next year, Wyre Forest District Council has confirmed.

In a letter to the council, the Home Office notified the authority that it is terminating its contract with Mercure Bewdley, The Heath Hotel.

Last week, the Home Office announced as part of a statement in the House of Commons by Robert Jenrick MP, the Minister for Immigration, that 50 hotels across the UK will stop housing asylum seekers.

By the end of February 2024, the Home Office will not use the hotel to accommodate asylum seekers. The current residents will be given notice and moved to other parts of the government’s asylum estate.

It was announced last week that the Gainsborough House Hotel in Kidderminster will also no longer house asylum seekers next year. 

Responding to the Home Office’s further notification, councillor Marcus Hart, leader of the council said: “We welcome the Home Office’s decision to cease to use the Heath Hotel as accommodation for asylum seekers.

“We look forward to working with the Home Office and Serco, its contractors, to make sure that there is no impact on the council as a result of the process of moving asylum seekers from the two hotels in Wyre Forest to other accommodation that the government uses for asylum seekers.

“We also look forward to hearing the hotel owners’ plans for the period after February 2024.”