Published: August 15, 2025
Above image: From L-R – Stephen Gabriel, CEO of Tamworth Council, Cllr Kevin Bentley, Dame Angela Eagle DBE and Belong’s CEO, Kelly Fowler speaking on the ‘Supporting cohesion and a place-based approach to asylum and resettlement’ session panel at the 2025 LGA Conference in July
The recent wave of protests outside hotels housing asylum-seekers has laid bare the fragility of social cohesion in the UK. Sparked by the charging of a hotel resident with sexual assault, the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, became a flashpoint – drawing hundreds of demonstrators and counter-protesters to its doors and the town hall. It’s one of the largest and most visible examples of a trend that has appeared on the streets of the UK again this summer.
Over the past month alone, Belong has tracked protests in at least 36 locations. While most have remained peaceful, arrests have occurred in seven areas. The majority of demonstrations have been small – fewer than 50 participants – but Epping stands out for its scale and intensity.
A Different Map
What’s striking is that many of this summer’s protest sites were not among those affected by the 2024 riots. Arrests during those earlier disturbances may have acted as a deterrent, but there’s more to the story. Councils impacted by the 2024 unrest have since implemented measures – such as tension monitoring, community mediation, and restorative justice. The evidence seems to suggest that these measures could be helping to prevent escalation.
Belong’s research has shown that when local authorities invest in proactive cohesion strategies, they can defuse tensions before they ignite.
What Our Research Reveals
As Epping Council seeks an interim High Court injunction to close the asylum hotel, Belong has revisited insights from our The State of Us research, conducted with British Future for the Independent Commission on Community and Cohesion.
Immigration and asylum emerged as dominant themes across all focus groups and surveys. Nearly half (49%) of respondents ranked “divisions between migrants, refugees, and UK-born residents” among their top three concerns.
While many expressed empathy for refugees, there was deep frustration with perceived failures in border control and housing allocation. One participant shared:
“My mother-in-law has just gone into a care home, and we have to pay thousands of pounds a month. My mother worked all her life. She doesn’t get the heating allowance now… you see these people coming in and they’re getting three hot meals a day and a hotel.”
These sentiments reflect not just economic anxiety, but a sense of unfairness and exclusion – fertile ground for division if left unaddressed.
What Needs to Change
Belong has been working with nine local authorities—many in areas affected by the 2024 disturbances—to develop cohesion strategies and frameworks. Drawing on this work and our After the Riots report, here are four key actions that government and local partners should prioritise:
- Align Asylum Policy with Cohesion Goals
Despite progress in reducing backlogs, over 115,000 asylum cases are still awaiting initial decisions or dates for appeals. Clearing these would allow hotels to close and enable those granted refugee status to work, contribute, and integrate.
- Engage Communities Early and Often
Dialogue matters. Contractors must inform local authorities before relocating asylum-seekers, giving councils time to prepare and, where needed, initiate community engagement and dialogue programmes.
- Implement Tension Monitoring Nationwide
Our research has found that formal tension monitoring remains patchy across the UK. These systems help councils and police identify early warning signs and intervene before misunderstandings and misinformation escalates.
- Support Refugee Integration Through Local Strategies
Post-2024, many councils have refreshed their cohesion strategies. Belong’s research shows that fostering social contact between newcomers and long-term residents reduces threat perception and builds empathy. Language support, employment pathways, and community participation are key.
Our CEO Kelly Fowler said: “Our work has consistently shown that perceptions of an unfair asylum system pose a serious challenge – for both public trust and community cohesion. Whilst there are policy decisions for government on the acceptance and processing of migrants – the protests in Epping and beyond are a wake-up call showing how quickly tensions can surface – and how vital it is to move from reactive policing to proactive prevention.
Migration and integration will remain complex issues, but cohesion isn’t built in crisis; it’s cultivated through trust, transparency, and long-term investment. Most people we speak to through our work at Belong recognise the need to somehow find common ground – and with the right conditions in place, they’re willing to help make that happen.”
Click here to read The State of Us.
Click here to read After the Riots.