A local councillor is waiting to see whether she has won the first stage of a High Court fight with Home Secretary Suella Braverman over the housing of asylum seekers on a barge.
Carralyn Parkes wants Mr Justice Holgate to give her the go-ahead to challenge the lawfulness of the use of the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Harbour, Dorset.
Mr Justice Holgate considered arguments at a High Court hearing in London on Tuesday, and is listed to deliver a ruling on Wednesday.
Mrs Parkes, a member of Portland Town Council and the Mayor of Portland, says she is “deeply concerned” by the Government’s “planned accommodation” on the Bibby Stockholm.
Lawyers representing Mrs Braverman say Mrs Parkes’s challenge should be dismissed.
Mrs Parkes, who is from Liverpool, has argued that the housing of asylum seekers on the barge is a “breach of planning control” and says there has not been “compliance” with environmental impact assessment duties.
She is also arguing that Mrs Braverman has not complied with duties under the 2010 Equality Act.
Lawyers representing Mrs Braverman say the challenge was made to a decision taken in April to house “destitute asylum seekers on a specially adapted” barge.
They argued that Mrs Parkes’s claim was “out of time”, “without merit” and said the judge should refuse to give permission for the challenge to proceed to a trial.
Government lawyers said the local planning authority did not think planning permission was required.
They also argued there was no “general principle” that housing “non-British asylum seekers” together on a vessel was “unlawful” under a public sector equality duty.
Meanwhile, separately it is expected the first asylum seekers could be returned to the barge next week, after it was evacuated following the discovery of Legionella bacteria in the water supply.
The Home Office said all necessary tests have been completed on the floating vessel, which has been out of use since August.
Letters are being sent to asylum seekers confirming their re-embarkation and it is understood the first people could begin returning to the vessel on October 19.
