A council is under fire after it emerged a city centre hotel is unlawfully housing asylum seekers - and has been granted planning permission to build extra 'hotel' guest accommodation.
More than 100 asylum seekers are currently being unlawfully housed at Fownes Hotel in Worcester because the city council has not granted planning permission for the hotel to be used as a hostel for asylum seekers.
Worcester City Council is also facing questions after the authority rubber stamped an application to convert conference space into 20 extra hotel rooms, a month after an internal report detailed how 124 migrants were actually staying at the property under an arrangement with the Home Office.
The council approved the application on the basis the hotel, a former 19th century glove factory which was at the centre of immigration protests last month, was expanding.
Planning permission is required for a 'material change of use' from a hotel to a hostel.
