LOCALS in one of the UK’s “tent cities” have their homes trashed daily and need bouncers patrolling the streets despite being next to a millionaire’s playground.
Camborne, in Cornwall, was once the world’s richest mining town but has been battered by poverty, unemployment and drug abuse in recent years.
With residents claiming it’s been abandoned by authorities as nearby idyllic St Ives booms, the town has slipped into being one of the most deprived areas of Europe.
The churchyard of the medieval St Martin and St Meriadoc’s Church is now overrun with rough sleepers, dubbed tent city.
Once a bustling high street with thriving businesses is now home to a handful of shops where alcohol and drug abusers congregate, claim locals.
Tracey Rail, 60, a lifelong resident said: “I think it’s sad what’s happened to Camborne, it’s pretty rough and desolate now.
“Lots of shops are closed down, all we have is charity shops, estate agents and betting shops. I don’t think there’s a lot for young people to do.
“I’ve heard tales of how it’s not safe to walk around Camborne in the night time but I’ve not done it myself for that reason.
“Employment is one of the major problems, we used to have the industry from mining, now it’s basically just retail and a lot of the employment opportunities are temporary because they’re holiday industries.
“It’s definitely got worse in the last couple of years, lots of the shops are empty and there are homeless people sleeping in the doorways.
“It’s not comfortable to walk up through Camborne sometimes because of the number of homeless.
“The fact they are homeless is shocking and dreadful and terrible.
“I walk through the churchyard to access the town and the amount of tents is quite uncomfortable that people have to live like that.
“But the question is where are the services?”
Nate Harris, 32, who has experienced several bouts of homelessness over the last 10 years, said help has evaporated.
He said: “I don’t take drugs or drink alcohol but I am still targeted like I do, I’m judged by what other people are doing.
“All the doorways that have been boarded up are places I used to sit in to get out of the rain.
“Instead of helping me get in somewhere they are making sure I have nowhere to go to stay dry.
There are a lot of tents around because people are struggling to live, then they slip into drugs and alcohol
Nick Johnson
“There is no help for people here, they kept on putting me in supported accommodation while they tried to find me something permanent but it never happened.
“I would be the last person in the house then it would be sold and I would be kicked back on the streets.
“Camborne has become a dog-eat-dog world recently, people have become so selfish really and robbing off each other.
“Prices are going up and up and people are desperate.
“I get why they don’t want people sitting in doorways but it’s not like I have any choice, I don’t ask for anything I just sit here drawing.”
In the town’s central square, where minutes earlier three people had been loudly arguing while drinking strong cider, another resident said he felt sympathy for those struggling.
Nick Johnson, 49, who moved to Camborne a year ago, praised the people living in the town but said they were “under a lot of stress”.
He said: “There are a lot of tents around because people are struggling to live, then they slip into drugs and alcohol.
The council don’t care about us, we are the poor relation
Hilary Bond
“You see a lot of people in doorways and it’s sad to see. There’s a lot of shops that have gone out of business, since I’ve been here there must be five or six shops that have failed and that’s really poor.
“Here and Redruth are the hardest places to get by, they both have issues with drug use and sleeping rough.
“Camborne has a lot more to offer than people realise, there are a lot of good people around here that sleep rough.”
Hilary Bond, 63, a church administrator, added: “Camborne is changing, over the last year there’s a lot more drug taking in the main street and antisocial behaviour.
“I don’t feel unsafe but it’s a changing environment because of poverty, depression and no jobs.
“I don’t know whether people choose to live in tents in the churchyard or whether it’s just a sign of the times.
“If you go around Truro there is no litter on the streets because all the money is spent over there and we are forgotten.
“In my street people come out every Sunday and do a litter pick, they shouldn’t have to but the council don’t care about us, we are the poor relation.”
