Local Protests Govern Asylum Siting

Across England, weekly anti‑migrant 'forever protests' and flagging have become a standing force that pressures councils and the Home Office over where asylum seekers live. Councils are invoking planning law (e.g., Epping’s Bell Hotel) to shut hotel placements, while protests pivot to blocking moves into private rentals (e.g., Waterlooville). This normalizes extra‑parliamentary local vetoes over a national policy domain. — It shows how persistent local mobilization plus legal levers can shift practical authority from the center to communities, rewiring migration governance norms.