Before: the stretch of land by Hyde Park [LDRS]

AN encampment of homeless people living in a traffic island have been evicted following months of complaints by residents and businesses.

Transport for London, which owns the stretch of land by Hyde Park close to Marble Arch Underground station, took “enforcement action” on Tuesday.

The camp has attracted a swathe of media because it was in Park Lane, made famous on the Monopoly board, but in reality a congested dual-carriageway.

The homeless charity People In Need Today (PINT) said: “For the many who have been living there this means being moved on to an alternative location, with no help in place to help them.”

The St Mungo’s homeless charity has also warned that people rough-sleeping in tents could “have often faced overlapping challenges like poor mental and physical health, unstable family relationships and trauma”.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited the site on Wednesday finding little “to indicate the encampment had been there”. There was some scattered debris and outlines of tents in the grass, and officials from the National Eviction Team.

After: the encampment is cleared [LDRS]

LDRS had visited the encampment in July after footage of the growing number of tents began circulating on social media.

Questions were being asked of Westminster City Council and TfL that led to an application for a possession order for the site in August.

Cllr Paul Swaddle, leader of Westminster Conservatives, told LDRS: “Seeing the tents cleared today will have finally brought some relief for local residents, but it should never have taken eight-plus months to clear. Westminster Council and TfL need to be more proactive in the future. Perhaps they can now turn their attention to the other tent encampments across the city.”

A TfL spokesperson told LDRS: “enforcement is always our last resort”, and added: “No one should be faced with sleeping rough on London’s streets.

“Park Lane is a busy part of the road network that is not a safe place for people to sleep rough and our focus is on the safety and welfare of everyone involved. While a number of people have since accepted offers of support or have moved from the location, a large encampment remained, so we have taken the decision to take action to gain possession of the site.”

A spokesperson for the city council said personal items which had been cleared are to be kept in storage for four weeks.