Government moves illegal migrants out of Allerton Court, Northallerton

For several years, Allerton Court Hotel in Northallerton has been closed to holidaymakers and residents and used to house migrants.

But, on Thursday (June 25), the government announced that asylum seekers have now been moved out of the hotel for good, and it will revert to its former use.

The news comes as the government confirms 20 more asylum hotel closures across England as part of its drive to end the use of all hotels by the end of this Parliament.

Allerton Court Hotel in Northallerton (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

As part of this, discussions are underway to use three new sites to house asylum seekers, with planning permission being sought at MoD Bicester, MoD Barnham and MoD Linton-on-Ouse.

Together, these new sites will eventually house up to 3,750 migrants.

Meanwhile, the Government intends to progress plans to extend the use of existing sites, including Crowborough barracks until 2030 and RAF Wethersfield beyond 2027.

Capacity at Wethersfield will also expand, increasing bedspaces to over 1,200.

Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said: “We promised to close every asylum hotel and hand them back to communities. That is exactly what we are doing here in North Yorkshire.

“Twenty more hotels are now closed across England, hotel numbers have more than halved since their peak, and we are moving people into large, basic 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.”

The announcement is the second tranche of hotel closures after 11 were closed in April.

As part of the announcement, the Home Office said it has halved the use of hotels from 400 under the last government to around 170 now, and claimed that the number of illegal migrants in hotels has been reduced by more than half, with now just 21,000, down from 56,000. 

The government department also claimed that asylum decisions are being made at four times the rate seen under the previous government, with over 128,000 initial asylum decisions made in the year to March 2026, up by more than a third on the previous year.