CAMPAIGNERS have pledged to block the removal of homeless people from Southend seafront.

Southend Council has served notices asking rough sleepers to leave Southend Cliff Gardens or face a court order.

But the Green Party and soup kitchen volunteers plan to challenge the order and protest, if bailiffs or police are called in.

The campaigners are seeking advice from a human rights lawyer, who has suggested the wording of the order makes it unenforcable.

Simon Cross, 50, of Woodgrange Drive, Southchurch, who stood for the Green Party in Rochford and Southend East at the general election, said: “If the council carries on, it is going to push the Warrior Soup Kitchen and myself to look for any legal loophole we can find to ensure those people can get real help and stay put.

“If the council came down, there would be plenty of people who would stand and hold a protest.”

The campaigners, who pitched tents on Jubilee Beach, Southend, last weekend in solidarity with the rough sleepers, said they would protest against any forcible eviction, but would not physically block police.

Jo Bates, 48, from Southchurch, who volunteers with the Warrior Soup Kitchen, said: “We would definitely block it, within the law, as best we can.

“My daughter is a human rights lawyer, so she is looking into it.”

The council says outreach workers have regularly visited each of the campers on its behalf to assess their housing and support needs and worked closely with local organisations, including Harp, FamilyMosaic, STARs, Essex Probation and Sept, to provide support and accommodation, either within Southend or outside the borough.

It said the assistance offered had included night shelter accommodation, help with accessing benefits, reconnection with support services in areas where they had previously lived, referral to drug and alcohol services and referral to mental health services.

The council has expressed concern over a suggestion by a member of homelessness support group, Street Spirit, that the rough sleepers should just move their camp to the beach.

It warned that sleeping so close to water was a safety risk.

A council spokesman said: “We recognise the rights of any individual to legal representation. However, in the interim, we strongly advise against camping on the beach, as there is a very real risk of being washed out to sea.”