WILTSHIRE Council has explained why hoardings are in place under the Maltings car park following backlash on social media.

Cabinet member for housing Richard Clewer told the Journal no rough sleepers remained at the site, having chosen to move on, and that the move was taken to prevent street drinking and drug taking in the car park.

"Our aim throughout this has been to help the rough sleepers," he said.

Following cold weather in February and March, a number of the city's rough sleepers visited the council to be re-housed, but three had decided to go back to the Maltings car park.

But Cllr Clewer said the group soon attracted other people, who were not rough sleepers, who used the area to drink and take drugs.

"We were getting groups of up to 30 people there, and it was intimidating for people," he said.

The group would regularly take heroin in the car park and leave used needles there.

After a "serious incident" last Wednesday (which Cllr Clewer would not provide details of), he said the three rough sleepers decided they no longer wanted to stay in the Maltings.

"They were very clearly cross and upset," Cllr Clewer said.

"They took their belongings, but we cleared what was left. Once we had cleared the area I very much did not want to see the street drinking and drug taking continue.

"I do not think it's appropriate for 20 or 30 people to be taking drugs in public."

The decision to put up hoardings under the Maltings was faced with heavy criticism after Wiltshire councillor Atiqul Hoque posted a picture of them on Facebook, praising the council's "gentle approach".

Cllr Clewer said: "We had a councillor who put something out on Facebook without engaging his brain."

And Cllr Clewer said he had been "getting a lot of pressure" to shut the site down before now, while the rough sleepers were still there.

"My view of that was absolutely not," he said. "Our role is to engage with the rough sleepers to try and help them."

Wiltshire Council spends more than £3million each year supporting rough sleepers, and Cllr Clewer said food was always available from Alabare.

"We provide support and we try to encourage them to take it, but we can't make them take support.

"Even when we had severe weather, only about a third of them took the support."

And Cllr Clewer said, despite negative comments made about the council, he was pleased a discussion had been started about rough sleeping.

"It's actually great to see how much people care. There are some people who think, 'get rid of them all and stick them in a corner', but that's just not the way to handle it."

Wiltshire Police were approached for comment on the incident last week.