ROUGH sleepers were given two hours to move their belongings or see them thrown out by Southend Council on World Homeless Day.

On the day designated to draw attention to the needs of homeless people and ways those in need of help can be supported locally Southend Council left notes on belongings giving a deadline for them to be moved or they would be thrown out.

The notice states: “These items have been identified as being left unattended. Please be aware you do not have permission to store these items here.

“If items are not removed within two hours they will be considered to be waste and will be removed for disposal.”

Zoey Smith, 35, co-founder of One Love Soup Kitchen in Southend said: “I think what the council is doing is disgusting and makes me so angry.

“Especially on World Homeless Day, the council should be helping these people and not treating them like this.

“These people need help and support.

“Two hours is not long enough for people to move their items and is completely inappropriate.

“The homeless people and rough sleepers could be at appointments to get help or getting food.

“Some of the people we help came to us with the notices.

“We were so angry when we saw the notices and couldn’t quite believe it.

“I know last year we had reports the council was removing tents and we made a fuss and the council started treating homeless people better.

“Our volunteers are also very angry about what has happened.”

A spokesman for Southend Council said: “It is probably most important to stress that we work very hard to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first instance, and once homeless do all we can to provide accommodation.

“Unattended items being left in public areas has been an issue for the borough for some time and needed addressing, for a number of reasons, including safety and security.

“We keep smaller items, including bags and personal belongings for 72 hours, giving the owners time to collect them. We unfortunately cannot store larger items.”