A DEDICATED campaigner was reduced to tears as he gained unanimous support at a council meeting after months of petitioning for more night shelters.

Retired John Hadman, 78, from Hove, has been campaigning since January for the council to act in the interest of rough sleepers by opening more night shelters and using existing night shelters more frequently.

At a full Brighton and Hove City Council meeting, Mr Hadman addressed the chamber and broke into tears as he outlined his emotional journey to help the plight of the city’s rough sleepers.

He said: “I urge the council en bloc to show humanity and open night shelters now.

“There are many volunteers with experience and churches willing to help and councillors David Gibson and Tom Druitt are ready to support and run night shelters.

“Cllr Clare Moonan, who has the remit to help the homeless and rough sleepers, needs to do more to champion and fight for the most deprived section of our community.

“As a result of the lack of humanity by the city council, I wrote to HM The Queen. The outcome of this was The Queen kindly asked her aide to pass my letter about homelessness on to her Prime Minister Theresa May.”

His petition, calling on the council to act, has gained over 4,150 signatures since the council voted on January 26 to use empty council property for night shelters.

The day after the vote, the council revealed that this would not be plausible until this winter due to a lack of available council property.

Cllr Clare Moonan said: “We need to do more and the council will be appointing a rough sleeping strategy coordinator.

“We are now reviewing the use of council buildings across the city and I hope by next winter we will be able to offer a better service for rough sleepers.”

David Gibson, councillor for Hanover & Elm Grove, said: “The public response to the petition has been overwhelming. What we have to do as councillors is achieve the same kind of compassion we see out there with charities and volunteers helping out.

“We now have £100,000 to use help this cause and that is great but this has been going on since January.

“Here we have a 78-year-old man who ran a solo campaign to start with and now we need to get on with it to get to a solution.”

The matter will be addressed at the policy, growth and resources committee meeting on May 4.