AT LEAST 200 people - the area's forgotten homeless - are living rough in Southall, according to a volunteer group.

The Sikh Welfare Awareness Team (Swat) says men and women from the Punjab and other parts of India are sleeping in graveyards, alleyways and even rubbish bins.

Swat, which provides support for the homeless, including medicine, clean clothing, sleeping bags and drugs advice, has started a campaign to tackle the problem.

The group has also set up a page on the issue via the social networking website Facebook.

Swat volunteer Suneeta Dohil said: "The problem is worse than a lot of people realise. Because they don't speak English or trust local authorities, a lot of these homeless people are scared to come forward, so they get forgotten about."

Ealing Council's cabinet member for housing, Hitesh Tailor, said: "It is important to understand the difference between the many in the borough who are sadly without a permanent home and the small minority who actually sleep on the streets.

"All our work in Southall has shown most of those outside at night do have a place that they could go to sleep, albeit not a permanent home. Outreach workers constantly visit areas where there are known problems, but one issue is that many of the people are fearful of being approached by officers, possibly because of concerns they may have about their immigration status.

"The issue of rough sleeping is very close to my heart and, only a few weeks ago, I took part in a night-time operation to identify people sleeping on the borough's streets."

He added that the council would continue to work with the UK Border Agency and the police, as well as outreach charities such as St Mungo's and Thames Reach to tackle the problems of rough sleepers.

Miss Dohil added: "Mr Tailor is right when he says some people do have a place to sleep, but some are having to use dustbins and graveyards."