Furious council bosses have gone to war with hotel chain Britannia – after the firm filled its airport branch with asylum seekers without telling them.

We can reveal the operator has privately agreed with Home Office contractor Serco to house 300 asylum seekers at the 212-bed Britannia Airport Hotel in Northenden.

But Manchester council say they have been left in the dark. Their officials have vowed to take action, believing the hotel is now effectively a hostel and a ‘material’ change to the firm’s original planning permission.

They have also blasted Serco’s actions as ‘unacceptable’.

According to official figures obtained by the M.E.N, 35 asylum seekers had previously been living at the firm’s Didsbury branch and 271 at the airport hotel.

However Britannia now plans to move those in the Didsbury branch into the one at the airport, meaning 306 asylum seekers will be living there.

That has been agreed with Serco, which is paid by the Home Office to find accommodation for people waiting on their asylum verdicts.

Manchester council and the Altrincham-based Britannia Hotel group have previously locked horns over the sale of London Road Fire Station, which for years the council has lobbied the firm to develop.

Coun Paul Andrews, executive member for adult health and well-being at the council, said he was amazed that the council had not been told about the group’s plans for their Palatine Road hotel, three miles from Manchester airport.

He said: “Manchester city council has today been made aware that the Britannia Hotel located at the airport in Northenden have agreed for the Home Office sub-contractor Serco to increase the level of asylum seekers they accommodate there,” he said.

“We believe that this amounts to a material change of use, and as such we will be taking appropriate action with the Brittania hotel chain regards to planning restrictions.

Read more: Why are so many asylum seekers sent here without money to pay for them?

“We have also made it clear to Serco that failing to notify the council in advance of this action having been taken is completely unacceptable.

“Manchester city council has had no direct responsibility for providing accommodation and support to asylum seekers living within our communities since 2012.

“The responsibility lies with the Home Office and Serco, their sub-contractor for north west England.”

Ever since Serco won the contract for asylum seeker management four years ago, town halls have complained that the firm does not tell it where people are being placed, meaning they cannot plan for pressures on services or any other issues that might arise.

Manchester currently has one of the highest numbers of asylum seekers in the country at a little under 1,000, mainly because Serco places people where accommodation costs are cheapest.

Local politicians and MPs have long been lobbying the government for a fairer distribution across the country.

Jenni Halliday, Serco’s Contract Director for Compass, said: “Due to the continuing increase in the number of these vulnerable asylum seekers being placed in our care in the North West, over the past few months we have been using several hotels including this one, to accommodate them."

"The availability of individual hotels changes, sometimes at very short notice and when that happens we work hard to make sure that we can make alternative arrangements to safely accommodate the asylum seekers and keep the local authorities informed.”