Posted on Brighton GScene Magazine website:

 http://www.gscene.com/news/Hove_MP_says_campers_should_pay_rates.shtml

Mike Weatherley, MP for Hove and Portslade, wants Campers at St Paul's Cathedral and in the centre of Brighton to pay Council Tax.

Mike has condemned the campers outside St Paul’s in a number of articles in the Daily Express and Time Out. Locally, he has called on the campers in Victoria Gardens to leave, saying that long-term camping in public spaces as a form of protest is unacceptable.

Mike said:
"When families across Brighton & Hove are struggling to pay Council Tax, it would seem logical that everybody should at least pay their fair share, especially when extra services will be required to clean up the inevitable mess when the campers eventually leave.

“It’s bad enough that the campers are depriving residents and tourists of the public spaces that they have commandeered. If we have to put up with them for now, the least they should be doing is contributing to the community they have imposed themselves on by paying Council Tax. They obviously have money as every time I’ve been past they have been drinking, smoking and playing with the latest electronic gadgets.”

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