Many of the people at a homeless camp in a Chalvey park were only using it for ‘drinking and partying’ and had a stable place to live elsewhere, Slough Borough Council has claimed.

A homeless camp in Stabmonk Park was cleared earlier this month as Slough Borough Council says it aims to ‘bring it back into community use'.

But although neighbours say they’d seen dozens of people coming and going over months, the council says just nine of the people there were considered ‘street homeless'.

A spokesperson said: “Following our outreach sessions (late at night and early mornings) over several weeks, we've concluded that nine people were actually street homeless and the park was mainly used for drinking/partying gatherings by a certain minority group.

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“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.”

Homeless charity Slough Outreach claimed that some of the people found in Stabmonk Park had struggled to find places to live. Charity organiser Shin Dhother said the people there were either ‘sofa surfing’ or had ‘gone underground'.

But the council says that of the nine ‘street homeless’ people there three had refused offers of support. It did not say what forms of ‘stable accommodation’ any of the other people it found in the park had access to.

The council spokesperson said: “During last month, our actions concluded in placing six people in our off the street provisions, but three others have refused any support and disengaged, moving on before they were served any notices from the enforcement team.

READ MORE: Stabmonk Park trust could be wound down by council

“As the council's aim was to bring back into use this green space, we offered help and support to anyone found there. Our homeless team aims to support anyone sleeping rough, regardless of their eligibility, but obviously the options for those with no recourse are very limited.”

Stabmonk Park is located between Seymour Road and the former Montem Leisure Centre site. It had been managed by neighbours through a charitable trust between 2000 and 2020, when the council took it over.

Since then the park has become overgrown and neighbours say the camp had been there since since the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024.

The council began work to clear out the park and bring it back into public use after a fire broke out at the camp in June this year.