Homeless hit with ‘heartless’ order to ‘leave at once’

Council says harsh wording will be re-drafted

had become a “magnet for the homeless”.

The existing notice says the tent/camp is on private land and the owner must ‘leave at once’. It further reads: “Court proceedings will start unless you have gone within 24 hours of receiving this notice otherwise the tent and all other items will be removed and destroyed.” The notice goes on further to provide contact details for homeless charities Catching Lives and Porchlight.

Now the authority has admitted the wording is “quite harsh” and says it will re-draft the orders more sympathetically. It plans to add further explanation about what the council is doing for the homeless.

But it is not flinching from its efforts to remove tents and camps from the street scene. Council spokesman Leo Whitlock said: “Tents on the streets and makeshift camps are unsafe for people to live in and act as a barrier to vulnerable people accessing support services. “Those who live in them experience violence, sexual assault, theft of belongings, bullying and exploitation.”

The council says 198 rough sleepers have been put into permanent accommodation since July 2018. Last week £1m of government funding was secured to continue this work. Mr Whitlock added: “Staff from the council and our partner organisations Catching Lives and Porchlight are out on the streets every day, speaking with rough sleepers, helping them access medical support and ultimately securing them the housing they need. “We would always want to work with individuals in this position to get them out of their tent for good.”

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The blunt court notice left for the homeless people who had set up camp in St Margaret’s Street