Home Office delays Crewe asylum seekers FOI response for 'public interest test'
By The Editor 15th May 2026
The Home Office has delayed its response to a Freedom of Information request concerning the relocation of asylum seekers from the Crewe Arms Hotel.
Chief Reporter and Editor of Crewe Nub News, Ryan Parker, submitted the request on 15 April, seeking details on where former residents had been moved following the hotel's closure.
The Nantwich Road hotel accommodated around 115 single male asylum seekers at its peak before numbers gradually reduced ahead of its closure earlier this year.
In a latest response, the Home Office confirmed it was extending the deadline to answer the request until Friday 12 June.
Officials said the information requested is being considered under Section 38(1)(a) and (b) of the Freedom of Information Act, relating to health and safety.
The department wrote: "Although the FOI Act carries a presumption in favour of disclosure, it provides exemptions which may be used to withhold information in specified circumstances.
"This test is used to balance the public interest in disclosure against the public interest in favour of withholding the information."
The Home Office said the exemption is a "qualified" one, meaning extra time is needed to consider whether releasing the information would be in the public interest.
The department originally said it aimed to issue a full response by 14 May.
In his FOI request, Mr Parker said the lack of detail surrounding the relocations had "caused serious concern from the local community".
He asked the Home Office to disclose where the asylum seekers had been relocated to, the type of accommodation being used, whether any had been transferred to military-style sites, and which contractors were responsible for housing them.
The request also sought copies of any impact assessments, equality analyses, risk assessments, and internal correspondence linked to the closure of the Crewe Arms Hotel and the dispersal of residents.
A ministerial decision was previously taken to prioritise the closure of the hotel, with the final resident leaving in April.
The Crewe Arms Hotel reopened to the general public on Monday 20 April.
READ MORE: Hunt for Crewe man, 41, on prison recall.
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