A THIRD bedroom tax protest is being planned in Worcester – this time involving campaigners waving placards in the city centre.

The same group behind two previous mass sleep-out events in the city’s Croft Road car park will be outside Boston Tea Party in Broad Street all day today.

The group has already ordered a raft of A-boards and banners saying ‘Axe the Tax’ and will lay tables where the market traders normally are.

Unlike the sleep-outs, one of which took place over-night, the campaigners say this time they will aim to pull people aside and speak to them directly.

Lorry driver Noel Kennedy, aged 46, of Battenhall, the organiser, said: “I’ve been determined not to give up, this time it will be different because I’ll be asking people if they’ve been affected by the bedroom tax.”

The protest will start at 9am and carry on until 6pm, and has been cleared with the city council and Chamber of Commerce.

Under the bedroom tax, officially known as the spare room subsidy, council house tenants get reduced housing benefit for having spare bedrooms.

The cut is 14 per cent for one empty bedroom or 25 per cent for two, with the resident asked to pay the difference or downsize.

It came into force in April, and has already survived one High Court legal challenge.

Although it has many detractors, the Government says the policy is aimed at freeing up more social homes for families with more than one child.

For more details on today’s protest, e-mail noel3003-@gmail.com.