Ed Sheeran responds to claims he’s building a wall around his house ‘to keep out homeless people’

Singer-songwriter wrote a message to The Sun newspaper on Instagram explaining that he wanted a wall ‘to keep the paps that you employ from being on my doorstep’

Ed Sheeran has responded to a report that accused him of trying to have railings built around his house to keep rough sleepers away.

A story in The Sun claimed that the singer-songwriter was planning to build a five-foot set of railings in front of his London home.

In the planning application, his building agent Paul Smith allegedly says one of the reasons for the railings is “preventing opportunities for rough sleeping”.

Sheeran has since responded to the story on Instagram, referencing his past work with the homeless charities Shelter and Crisis.

“Dear Natalie Edwards from the Sun newspaper. Your story is b******s, I have done lots of work in the past for Crisis and Shelter and would never build railings outside my home for that reason,” he wrote.

“The reason was to keep the paps that you employ from being on my doorstep. Have a good day.”

A spokesperson for Sheeran also told The Sun: “This is a standard planning application, which was not written by Ed, and it is not reflective of Ed’s views or feelings on homelessness.”

Sheeran has said he experienced sleeping rough himself in the past when he was a struggling musician, and also backed The Independent’s Christmas charity appeal in 2016 for the Young and Homeless Helpline.