Derby Midland Hotel, Midland Road

The Midland Hotel sits on Midland Road, immediately south of Derby railway station, in the DE1 postcode. It is operated under the Best Western Signature Collection brand. The site has been used by the Home Office under the Midlands and East of England Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contract held by Serco, alongside the Station Hotel a short distance away on the same road^[1]Press.

At a tense full council meeting on 17 September 2025, Derby City Council split evenly on a motion to formally assess the Midland Hotel and Station Hotel for planning enforcement action. The deadlock was broken by Liberal Democrat Mayor Cllr Ajit Singh Atwal's casting vote, instructing officers to determine whether the asylum use amounted to a material change of use under planning law and whether enforcement action was appropriate^[2]Press.

The council later concluded that the character of both hotels did amount to a material change of use to hostels. However, officers recommended against enforcement action after weighing the level of harm, public purse cost, wider societal impact and recent case law including the 2025 Epping ruling, and the council accepted that recommendation.

In February 2026, Reform UK's Derbyshire County Council administration voted by a majority to demand a clear and public Home Office timeline for closure of every asylum hotel in the county, including the two Midland Road sites in Derby. The Home Office responded saying it intended to end hotel use by the end of the current Parliament without naming dates for the Midland and Station hotels^[3]Press.

Splitting the 329 person Derby caseload roughly evenly across the two Midland Road hotels suggests around 165 residents at the Midland alone. At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[4], that implies headline taxpayer exposure of around £28,050 per night and roughly £10.2 million per year for the Midland alone. The May 2025 NAO contract review put the average per hotel run rate across the wider portfolio at about £5.84 million per year^[5]NAO.