‘Anti-homeless’ benches, sprinklers and bike racks are the latest examples of hostile architecture appearing in cities designed to deter rough sleepers.

Rapper Professor Green criticised benches installed in Bournemouth which feature a metal bar across the middle to stop people sleeping on them.

“What's the message here? 'Hey you poor sods with no safety net ... Cause you won't have the 'comfort' of this bench to sleep on! Ha!” the 34-year-old, who presented a recent BBC Three documentary on youth homelessness, posted on Twitter.

“Again, nothing done to tackle the problem, just something to make it more invisible so we can pretend it isn't happening.”