A mayor has begun a legal challenge to stop asylum seekers from being housed on the Bibby Stockholm barge.

Carralyn Parkes wants a High Court judge to conclude she has an “arguable case” against Home Secretary Suella Braverman and to give her the go-ahead to challenge the lawfulness of the use of the barge in Portland Harbour, Dorset.

Ms Parkes, who is the Mayor of Portland and a member of Portland Town Council, has said she is “deeply concerned” by the government’s “planned accommodation” on the Bibby Stockholm.

It comes as asylum seekers who were evicted from the floating accommodation have been told they will return to it next week.

A total of 39 migrants were moved into the floating accommodation in August as part of a government plan to cut down the number being housed in hotels, but within days the group of men were moved off the vessel after legionella bacteria was found in the water supply.

Lawyers representing Ms Braverman say Ms Parkes’ legal challenge should be dismissed.

Mr Justice Holgate is considering arguments at a High Court hearing in London, expected to last a day.

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“She is deeply concerned by the planned accommodation of around 500 asylum seekers on the Bibby Stockholm barge by the [home secretary], especially by the fact that the [home secretary] proceeded on the basis that she did not require planning permission and without any adequate consultation with the local community,” Alex Goodman KC, who is leading Ms Parkes’ legal team, told the judge in a written case outline on Tuesday.

“The public importance of the claim is self-evident.”

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Lawyer argues claim is ‘without merit’

Mr Goodman said Ms Parkes argued the housing of asylum seekers on the barge was a “breach of planning control” and there had not been “compliance” with environmental impact assessment duties.

He said she had an “arguable case”.

Paul Brown KC, who is leading Ms Braverman’s legal team, said the challenge was made to a decision, taken in April, to house “destitute asylum seekers on a specially adapted” barge “temporarily moored” in Portland port.

He argued Ms Parkes’ claim was “out of time” and “without merit”, and said the judge should refuse to give permission for the challenge to proceed to a trial.

The barge is among a number of controversial accommodation options the government has begun rolling out to provide cheaper alternative housing for migrants awaiting the processing of asylum applications – including former military bases.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping the boats crossing the Channel one of his top five priorities ahead of a likely general election next year.

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