Cold, ice and snow are predicted for the next three days - and rough sleepers across Windsor and Slough are being urged to take advantage of help on offer in their towns.

Slough Borough Council is already offering emergency cold weather provision which will be reviewed after tomorrow.

Rough sleepers are urged to register at MyCouncil at Landmark Place in High Street from 9am tomorrow - not on Thursday.

A suitable placement will be found for them by the housing team.

A special helpline called StreetLink is available for rough sleepers and members of the public who wish to report someone sleeping rough.

The helpline number is 0300 500 0914, or visit www.streetlink.org.uk Meanwhile the Royal Borough has operated its SWEP (Severe Weather Emergency Protocol) all winter, insisting that anyone found sleeping on the street is assessed for their needs and given accommodation as soon as possible.

A spokesman said: "We will find some sort of accommodation for them depending on their needs. If it is a family we need to look where best to place them."

He said the rough sleepers were first referred to the Windsor or Maidenhead library for an assessment.

But the council leader Simon Dudley has insisted that some rough sleepers had refused the council's help when offered accommodation, leading to a debate around so called 'fake beggars'.

The council's SWEP is reviewed weekly and is currently planned to remain in place until early next week.

The Royal Borough says that 23 people have been placed in accommodation under the current SWEP.

But it says that five rough sleepers have refused offers of support while seven accepted initially but did not occupy the property secured for them.

The authority has been promising a full report on rough sleeping in the borough.