Park Hotel Diss

South Norfolk Council's August 2025 statement set out the proposal directly. The Home Office intended to remove the families from the Park Hotel and replace them with single adult asylum seekers. Council leader Daniel Elmer said the council had been clear from the start that it would not accept a change from accommodating families to single asylum seekers^[1]Council.

The council confirmed it would use all options available, including planning powers, to support both the current residents and the local community. Reporting in the Diss Mercury and the council statement that followed in late August 2025 confirmed that the hotel owner had indicated a willingness to permanently close the hotel rather than accept the Home Office plan, and that the Home Office subsequently announced it would cease using the building^[4]Press^[2]Council.

Local MP Adrian Ramsay raised the position of the families during the dispute, observing that many of the children were enrolled in local schools. The Diss Mercury reported that asylum-seeking families had lived at the hotel for around two years before the proposed swap brought the situation into wider public view^[4]Press.

ITV News Anglia reported that on 21 July 2025 around 60 anti-migrant protesters and 30 counter-protesters gathered on opposing sides of the road outside the hotel. The numbers later grew, with around 150 people on the anti-migrant side after the counter-protesters moved elsewhere^[3]Broadcast.

Norfolk Police later confirmed two charges following the protest. James Harvey, 22, of Linden Drive in Hethersett, was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence. Luke Sharman, 23, of Harcourt Close in Norwich, was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence and possession of cannabis^[3]Broadcast.

The Park Hotel sits on Denmark Street near the centre of Diss, a market town in south Norfolk close to the Suffolk border. It is a small commercial hotel by national standards. Operationally, the accommodation contract is held by Clearsprings Ready Homes under the East of England regional Asylum Accommodation and Support Contract. South Norfolk Council had earlier indicated that it intended to issue a temporary stop notice or planning enforcement action requiring the building's use to be regularised in the event of any change of resident profile^[1]Council.

At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[5], a site running at around 80 residents implies taxpayer exposure of about £13,600 per night and roughly £4.96 million per year. That sits below the May 2025 NAO contract average per hotel run rate of about £5.84 million^[6]NAO, reflecting Diss's smaller bed count compared with the larger contingency hotels.