ALL “anti-homeless’” benches from across the city need to be scrapped, campaigners are urging.

A petition has been launched to get benches which have metal bars on them removed from the seats throughout Southampton so homeless people can have a place to sleep that is off the ground and dryer than the floor.

Hundreds have signed the appeal which was set up by Eastleigh resident Mikki Jenman calling for Southampton City Council to get rid of the bars.

The 39-year-old believes having seating, like the one pictured, deters homeless people from finding a safe spot to sleep at night and can be difficult for elderly or larger people to use.

She hopes that by spreading the word of the campaign, it will encourage the city council to take action.

She said: “The idea for the petition came after a friend and I had handed out items to homeless people in the city during the snow earlier this month.

“We were aware of other councils who had put these types of benches in but I had never seen them in Southampton.

“I took a picture of it and shared it and it’s had a really big response.”

She added: “The benches are not inclusive - regardless of whether you are homeless or not they can be difficult for people to sit on and rest.”

The launch of the campaign comes after Bournemouth Borough Council were forced to make a u-turn and remove all similarly designed benches from its streets.

People became so incensed by the benches, rapper and broadcaster Professor Green went to the town to remove bars from the bench in Bournemouth Square, after he spoke out against them on social media.

Along with designer Max McMurdo and producer Richie Carr, Green attached their own bar to the bench to show how it could be used to provide shelter for a homeless person as opposed to a deterrent.

City councillor Dave Shields, cabinet member for health and community safety, said that he was open to talking to anyone concerned about the benches in the city.

But he added that those types of benches had been “there for years”.

He said: “I think there is a good reason why people have signed up for this campaign but it is not our intention to deliberately attempt to make existing benches to deter people from sleeping on them.

“When the benches were originally put in there were different reasons as to why the bars were put in, including to stop skateboarders from using them.”

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