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A legal dispute over whether the St George Hotel in Great Yarmouth qualifies as a house in multiple occupation (HMO) has been resolved in favour of the local council. Great Yarmouth Borough Council argued that the building should be licensed as an HMO due to housing conditions, while the owners, Oxford Hotel Investments, claimed the rooms were self-contained flats.

The council first became concerned after housing officers inspected the property on Albert Square and found that 32 of the 62 rooms were being used to accommodate homeless people. Officers determined that the rooms did not meet the legal criteria for self-contained flats, noting they lacked full cooking facilities. As a result, the council required the building to be licensed as an HMO, which would subject it to stricter safety and housing standards.

Oxford Hotel Investments challenged the decision at a tribunal, arguing that each room should be classified as a flat. Tribunal inspectors found that while the rooms were en-suite, they only included a microwave, kettle, and fridge, without proper cooking or food preparation areas.

The tribunal upheld the council’s ruling, with Judge Johns KC stating that a room could not “be turned into a flat simply by plugging in a microwave.” He emphasised that the rooms had “no relevant storage, no food preparation area” and noted that planning laws are designed to “protect people in the occupation of their homes, not to encourage them to cook their own meals.”

The owners sought a second tribunal, which again ruled in the council’s favour. Despite this, Oxford Hotel Investments has now indicated plans to appeal the verdict.

A hotel spokesman confirmed that the building has not housed homeless people for approximately two years. Paul Wells, the council’s Conservative portfolio holder for licensing, welcomed the ruling, describing it as a precedent for other local authorities seeking to improve housing standards. He said: “Our teams worked exceptionally hard to achieve this result and deserve real credit.”

Plans to redevelop Peterborough’s historic Sessions House have been welcomed by the city’s Civic Society – according to Peterborough Today.

The Sessions House, currently vacant, was previously a bar and restaurant until 2012 and is now the subject of a planning application proposing partial demolition of a modern extension and internal alterations.

The building has a long history. The original custodial facility for the Soke of Peterborough was the Abbot’s Prison in Long Causeway, which had fallen into decay, leading to the indictment of the Marquess of Exeter in 1795 for neglect. The prison was rebuilt in the late 18th century but closed in the early 1840s after being deemed too small. A new facility on Thorpe Road was then designed by William Donthorne in the Norman style. Completed in 1842 at a cost of £8,000, it featured an octagonal outer wall, a rectangular central prison building, and a prominent entrance block facing Thorpe Road. The symmetrical frontage included a three-storey tower with a portcullis and mullioned windows, flanked by turrets with lancet windows and machicolations.

The entrance block incorporated a courtroom for the magistrates and became known as the Sessions House. Magistrates of the Soke of Peterborough, sitting as the court of quarter sessions, could try more serious cases, powers typically reserved for judges at assize courts. The Liberty of Peterborough Constabulary established its headquarters at the complex in 1857. The prison closed in 1878 after inmates were transferred to Cambridge or Northampton.

The police continued to use the old prison building until 1957, when a new station opened on Bridge Street and the old building was demolished. The Sessions House itself remained a courthouse until the expansion of court facilities led to the construction of a modern magistrates’ court in 1978 and the Peterborough Combined Court Centre in 1987. The Sessions House was later converted into a Mitchells & Butlers pub in the 1980s, then into a bar and restaurant in 2002, before closing and remaining unused since 2013.

“The demolitions described almost all relate to the mid-20th century rear extension and modern internal alterations of no historic value to the original building,” the Civic Society stated. “These sympathetic proposals for reactivated beneficial use of the Sessions House as a restaurant are welcomed and the Civic Society therefore supports this application.”

A heritage impact assessment submitted with the application includes photographs of the entrance hall, bar area, mezzanine floor, and the dining room, which features a hammerbeam roof. Heritage consultant Sam Falco said: “The overall condition of the interior is poor, with water ingress and deterioration owing to its long-term vacancy. The proposals do not seek to remove historic fabric from the interior of the building, with the proposals seeking repair and modest alterations largely by way of removing modern (late c20) split level platforms from previous restaurant uses and reconfiguration of modern WCs. The internal works to the historic core of the building are considered to result in a beneficial impact.”

The Peterborough Sessions House redevelopment seeks to preserve the building’s historic character while creating a functional modern restaurant, balancing heritage conservation with adaptive reuse.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice across parts of southern and eastern England. The alert is in effect from 00:00 to 12:00 GMT on Friday, covering Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, and Northamptonshire.

Forecasters say an area of sleet and snow will move south-east across England, with snow expected to fall for approximately two to three hours in any given location. The Met Office warned that “up to 2cm (0.8in) is likely for some, and perhaps as much as 5cm (2in) of snow possible in a few spots, especially higher ground of north Wales and north-west England.”

Residents and travellers have been advised to anticipate some disruption on roads and railways, with longer journey times possible. Icy patches may form on roads, pavements, and cycle paths, increasing the risk of accidents.

Temperatures on Friday are forecast to remain low, reaching highs of around 3C and dipping below freezing overnight. The Met Office has urged the public to take care and allow extra time for travel during the snowy conditions.