A new report has revealed the alarming extent of rural homelessness – with rough sleeping in the countryside higher than some urban areas.

Figures from countryside charity the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) show homelessness levels have soared by 40% in just five years, with a greater proportion of people sleeping rough in the seven worst affected rural local authorities – Boston, Bedford, North Devon, Cornwall, Bath and Northeast Somerset, Torridge and Great Yarmouth – than in London, Leeds or Norwich.