ibis Coventry South, Whitley

The ibis Coventry South sits on the Whitley Business Park off Abbey Road, on the southern edge of the city near the A45 ringway and the Jaguar Land Rover plant. The hotel had been operating commercially when the Home Office procured it on 12 November 2024 as a contingency asylum site under the Midlands Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contract held by Serco^[1]Press.

Coventry City Council brought a judicial review of the Home Office decision, arguing the city already housed more than its fair share of asylum seekers and that the government had committed to a maximum ratio of one asylum seeker per 200 residents. The council also said the 48 hour notice failed published consultation expectations^[4]Broadcast.

In R (Coventry City Council) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 2929 (Admin), Mr Justice Eyre dismissed the claim in full. The judgment held that the one in 200 ratio was planning guidance rather than a binding limit, and that the Home Secretary had not breached legitimate expectations, equality duties or rationality when procuring the ibis Coventry South^[3]GOV.UK^[2]Press.

At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[5], an estimated 90 room contingency hotel run at full asylum occupancy implies headline taxpayer exposure of about £15,300 per night and roughly £5.6 million per year. The May 2025 NAO contract review put the average per hotel run rate across the wider portfolio at about £5.84 million per year^[6]NAO.