A £3 million immigration appeal Court has opened in Bradford to help deal with the hundreds of cases in the north of England.

The appeals come from people challenging the refusal of their applications to the Home office to allow them to stay in Britain.

A maximum of 48 cases a day are held in the new court in the Phoenix Court office complex, Leeds Road, Thornbury.

Cases in the four courts sitting in the refurbished building will be open to the public. People who have submitted the appeals will receive written notification and reasons for the decision several days later.

A smaller immigration appeals court sits in Leeds, but the Bradford court is one of the biggest in Britain and operates over a wide catchment area which stretches north to Newcastle.

There are five immigration courts in Britain with the others operating in Manchester, Birmingham and London.

Jack Fargher, senior operational manager for the court, said the court would deal with political asylum seekers as well as people appealing against visa refusals by the Home Office.

The cases will be heard by adjudicators appointed by Lord Irvine the Lord Chancellor, and 23 administrative workers have been employed at the court as well as security guards.

The Lord Chancellor's department wants to push the rate of decisions up from 4,500 a month nationally to 6,000. The aim is also to reduce the four-month waiting time for cases to be dealt with.

Most of the cases will involve asylum seekers but there are also many Asian people who want to join their families in the district.

Numbers of applications are soaring, with more than 47,000 heard in 2001 compared with only about 27,000 the previous year. About 80 per cent of them are refused.

Mr Fargher said: "This is a big court which will cover a very wide area."

Bradford North Labour MP Terry Rooney welcomed the opening of the court. "It is good news for Bradford as people won't have to wait six to nine months for hearings and won't have to go to Leeds. "