Squatters evicted from flats under promenade

SARAH Falcon and Justin Templeman (right) looking out from a boat shed in Brighton the night before they were evicted.

Squatters converted the disused sheds under the promenade into tiny self-contained flats five months ago, but Brighton borough council insisted that they were unfit for habitation and at 7.30am yesterday the group of 11 were evicted, writes Danny Penman.

The squatters said they had begun renovating the sheds and had offered to pay rent. They claimed that many local people supported them and 1,300 had signed a petition.

'It's the only place we could live. We've gone through councils in London, all over the place, and nobody would house us . . . we've nowhere else to go,' said Mr Templeman, 23, from Middlesborough.

A council spokesman said: 'They can come to the council for advice on their housing position. There is a waiting list and we would have to see where they fit into it.'

(Photograph omitted)