HOMELESS activists have re-established an Occupy Bournemouth site at a long-term vacant plot in Boscombe.

Just two tents were at the site, the former coal yard on Ashley Road, when the Echo visited yesterday.

Campaigners declined to officially comment, but confirmed they’d moved onto the privately-owned land the previous day.

They’ve also posted a notice on the gates which states that “we live in this property, it is our home and we intend to stay here” and “at all times there is at least one person in this property.”

The former coal yard site, next to the railway line, has been vacant for years. Back in 2010 Bournemouth council ordered the landowners to clear up the yard as it had become a magnet for flytippers.

Boscombe ward councillor Phil Stanley-Watts said: “The important thing is that it is quite a dangerous site for anyone to live on, so they’re putting their lives in their own hands. It is a site which potentially has chemicals underneath and there are lots of sharp objects within the derelict land.”

Meanwhile, a Bournemouth council spokesman explained: “We are aware that this protest group has moved sites and we have notified the landowners as the occupants are on private land.

“Our priority remains the safety of any vulnerable people who may be there and our rough sleeper outreach team continue to offer support to all people in the borough known to be rough sleeping.”

Squatters first moved onto private land at Exeter Road, Bournemouth, before Christmas.

This land at the site of the former Punshon Memorial Church was cleared by bailiffs on Friday, for the second time.

There were angry scenes three days earlier when bailiffs, supported by Dorset Police, first cleared the unauthorised encampment.

Organisers who established the Occupy Bournemouth site have labelled Bournemouth council “disgusting” in its attitude towards homelessness, and argue their encampment is a protest against the lack of support available.

However, St Mungo’s, which is commissioned by Bournemouth and Poole councils to provide outreach services to support homeless people, has encouraged people to use its StreetLink service at streetlink.org.uk to get rough sleepers into accommodation.

Official homeless workers have claimed the occupy site could be potentially “dangerous” if temperatures drop.