Homeless people 'struggling' after park eviction

The council said staff "cleared a huge amount of waste" from the park

A group of homeless people evicted from a park by a council seeking to tidy up the area are struggling to find alternative accommodation, a charity has said.

Several people were relocated after being found living in Stabmonk Park in Chalvey, Slough, following a fire there last month.

Although some have been rehoused, others have been left searching for a place to go, according to Shin Dhother from homelessness charity Slough Outreach.

Slough Borough Council said it had rehoused six homeless people living in the park, but that three others "refused any support and disengaged".

The authority said that, following outreach sessions, nine people using the site were considered "street homeless".

It said: "Many of those found there were having access to stable accommodation and have been encouraged to stop using the park for drinking and gathering purposes because of safety reasons."

Slough Borough Council said it wanted to bring the park back into community use

But Mr Dhother questioned the support provided by the authority.

“The people living there come to our pop-up soup kitchen every night," he said.

“We don’t really ask questions but I know some of them don’t get temporary accommodation and are sofa surfing – they’ve gone underground really.”

In a statement to the BBC, Slough Borough Council said: "As the council's aim was to bring back into use this green space, we offered help and support to anyone found there.

"Our homelessness team aims to support anyone sleeping rough, regardless of their eligibility, but obviously the options for those with no recourse are very limited."

When the council took ownership of the park in 2020, it hoped to use it as green space for a planned housing development at the Montem Leisure Centre site.

But the Montem site was sold after the council went effectively bankrupt and since then the park had become neglected and overgrown.