Epping Forest District Council has asked for permission to take its case against a hotel housing asylum seekers to the Supreme Court.
Thousands of people have protested outside The Bell Hotel in Epping over the last two months.
The district council obtained a temporary injunction from the High Court which would have forced 138 asylum seekers to leave by 12 September.
The Court of Appeal overturned the ruling last week. The council confirmed on Monday it had taken the next steps to appealing the decision.
A council spokesperson said: “Indicating our intention to appeal does not commit us to further action but facilitates the later process, should we decide to do so.
“Refusal of the Court of Appeal to allow our request would not close our opportunity. The council would still have the right to apply directly to the Supreme Court.”
The district council had argued at the High Court that the site owner, Somani Hotels, had breached planning by not notifying the local authority of its plans for the Bell.
Following the decision, Conservative council leader Chris Whitbread also said the protests had placed an “intolerable strain on our community”.
But Somani Hotels and the Home Office – which places migrants at the site – took the case to the Court of Appeal.
The judge there, Lord Justice Bean, said the temporary injunction ruling was “seriously flawed in principle”.
He said it ignored the “obvious consequences” that the closure would put pressure on the system elsewhere and said the decision risked “encouraging further lawlessness”.
