Jamie Rawlings and Roxey Acott are squatting in the old Maidstone library

Squatters who have taken up residence in the disused Maidstone Library have been warned about asbestos in the walls.

But the council’s call for caution came after the group found a discarded document in the St Faith Street building and read up on the subject.

Squatter Roxy Acott, 19, said: “When we got in here there was a folder and then I noticed the word asbestos. It said it was there in the walls but there’s no risk.”

Despite eviction warnings, the group are now so settled that they are growing cucumbers on the windowsills and have turned the offices upstairs into bedrooms.

They also have a useable kitchen.

Jamie Rawlings, 17 sits next to cress he has grown, on the canopy over the main entrance of Maidstone's former library

Fellow inhabitant Jamie Rawlings said the group of around 15 had big plans.

"We aren’t doing a bad thing here; we are trying to do something positive.

"we aren’t doing a bad thing here; we are trying to do something positive" – squatter jamie rawlings

"We are recycling things that people don’t want, like mattresses, and we have been offered donations of snooker tables. We are going to grow vegetables in troughs along the balcony at the back.”

A Kent County Council spokesman said the asbestos was safe unless the structure was seriously damaged and denied it was delaying the eviction proceedings.

So far the council has gone through two court hearings to have the illegal residents removed.

However, in a statement, it said it was considering the next course of action, and could not comment further due to the legal situation.

The building has been empty since April last year, when the books were transferred to the new History and Library Centre at Springfield.