A Chelmsford hotel used to house asylum seekers has closed as part of a wider Government push to end the use of hotels across the UK.
The Best Western Atlantic Hotel in Chelmsford is among 20 sites confirmed to have shut, according to the Home Office, as ministers move to relocate asylum seekers into former military accommodation.
The announcement comes ahead of fresh immigration reforms set to be introduced to Parliament next week, with the Government planning to expand the use of former military barracks to house thousands of asylum seekers.
The Chelmsford site is one of two in Essex on the latest closure list, alongside the Bell Hotel in Epping.
Planning permission is being sought at Ministry of Defence sites in Bicester in Oxfordshire, Barnham in Suffolk and Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire to accommodate up to 3,750 people.
The Home Office is also looking to extend the use of existing sites, including Wethersfield in Essex, beyond its current end date of 2027.
Figures published last month show the number of asylum seekers being housed in UK hotels has fallen to its lowest level since records began in 2022.
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There were 20,885 people staying in such accommodation at the end of March, down 35% from 32,326 a year earlier and significantly lower than a peak of 56,018 in September 2023.
Border security and asylum minister Alex Norris said: "We promised to close every asylum hotel and hand them back to communities, and that is exactly what we are doing.
"Twenty more hotels have closed, and hotel numbers have more than halved since their peak.
"Instead, we’re moving asylum seekers into ex-military sites that are a far cry from the hotels the last government left us with.
"This is a system being brought back under control – and we will not stop until the job is done."
However, concerns have been raised about the use of former military sites.
Imran Hussain, of the Refugee Council, said: "Moving refugees from unsuitable hotels to unsuitable former military sites is storing up problems for the next prime minister by repeating policies that failed in the recent past.
"It would be wise to rethink this approach."
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