Brighton and Hove City Council have installed anti-homeless benches. The city has the 2nd largest number of rough sleepers in the UK with 180 plus rough sleepers sleeping on the streets.

In the last 12 months sadly 17 people affected by homelessness in Brighton and Hove have died and I believe these Anti-Homeless benches do not fit into an Inclusive, Diverse and welcoming city like Brighton and Hove.

I call on Geoff Raw The Chief Executive who is most senior member of staff at Brighton and Hove City Council to have these benches removed and replaced with the old style benches we have always had here in Brighton and Hove.

These are benches that couples and cuddle up and relax, or local workers can chill and eat there lunch. These are clearly designed and chosen for one reason to keep away rough sleepers.

Update 2nd March 18:00pm:

BHCC Deny installing the benches and do the developers of the new redevelopment, leaving us perplexed as to who did actually put these benches in?

Brighton and Hove City Council's lead member for homelessness denies the benches were installed by the local authority, but the First Base, the developer of the old Amex headquarters on Edward Street, said it had nothing to with them either.

Lucinda Mitchell, project director for First Base said: "We have no knowledge of who is responsible for the benches in the vicinity of our Edward street development site. We only became aware when this was brought to our attention on March 1, and we are liaising closely with the council and other local partners regarding this issue.”

Brighton and Hove City Council Say:

"The benches highlighted in the petition being shared online were not installed by the council and are not on council owned land.

"No council benches are installed with an 'anti-homeless' intent as alleged recently on social media. The council has made tackling rough sleeping and protecting the vulnerable a priority."

"A range of bench types are installed by the council across the city to meet the different needs of residents and visitors."

"The City Parks team is looking at best practice for benches as part of the Open Spaces Strategy and will take into consideration the needs of people with mobility issues such as bench height, upright backs and armrests (at present only about 10 per cent of benches have armrests in Brighton and Hove). This work will include input from disability specialists and comparisons with other local authorities."