The minister of a church in Stoke-on-Trent has insisted that congregants do not feel threatened by a group of local homeless people sleeping on a nearby doorstep, after local authorities ordered them to leave.

Superintendent minister of Swan Bank church, Kathryn Stevens, told BBC West Midlands that she was “saddened” at the council’s response.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said the encampment, in the doorway of a nearby disused restaurant, “represented a threat” to the community and “had caused fear in the local area”.

The council issued a Community Protection Warning (CPW) along with Staffordshire Police, ordering rough sleepers to vacate the site. It said it offered them support.

Councillor Chris Robinson said: “Illegal homeless encampments represent a threat to the local community and are not the correct way to tackle the profoundly serious issue of homelessness."

Minister Stevens felt the action was “very wrong” and said people at the site needed "love, care, help, time and attention.”

She said: "At the same time, we've got to think about the overall safety of the church so we try and balance it in the best way we can. But the idea of us as a church being frightened by that is so far from the mark."

The church says it has worked to support homeless people, inviting them inside in the past for showers and food.