Hastings backtracks on ban on sleeping in vehicles

Trish said getting a van to enjoy nature had been a "life-saver"

Hastings Borough Council has reconsidered plans to consult on a ban on people sleeping in vehicles.

On Monday, Hastings Borough Council's cabinet agreed to hold a formal consultation on proposals connected with the town's Anti-Social Behaviour Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).

Residents were to be asked to share their views on whether to renew the existing PSPO for another three years and whether a ban on sleeping in cars and vans should be introduced across the borough.

But on Wednesday the council announced a change of course, saying it would consider its approach to the "complex issue" of people sleeping in vehicles as part of a different consultation process.

A spokesperson said: "We have decided that as this is a complex issue we think it is more appropriate to consider our approach to people having to sleep in vehicles across the borough as part of the upcoming Housing Strategy consultation.

"This will also give key stakeholders such as those having to sleep in vehicles themselves, homelessness charities and a wide range of the public more time to respond and submit their views as part of the consultation."

The original proposal had received strong criticism that it would effectively "criminalise homelessness", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

In a report to cabinet, officers noted how the council had received "numerous complaints" about people sleeping in vehicles and caravans in St Helens Road, Cinque Ports Way, Sedlescombe Road North and Napier Road, among other places.

Resident Jane Tegg told BBC Sussex: "I think it's a very good idea. I'm behind it all the way because I don't like the caravans here.

"This is a nice area here and we don't want these nasty-looking caravans parked."

She added that she thinks they are "an eyesore" and she worried about "what they do with their effluents and stuff".

'Van is life-saver'

But another resident, Trish, who has a flat in Hastings but referred to herself as a "van-lifer", said the proposed ban was "atrocious".

"Freedom of speech and freedom of going where you want to go and travelling where you want to go is being stamped out," she said.

"I was bedridden for six months. I couldn't move, I couldn't walk. So this is the reason I got my first van.

"I like to wake up at the crack of dawn and watch the sun rise over the sea. It's my life-saver when I'm in extreme pain.

"No van-lifers want anything to be disturbing the nature. People like us clean up after ourselves. Yes, you get the rogue ones that don't care about the environment and yes they should be stopped."