Cambridge aims to clear beggars off streets by running donor scheme

A huddled figure sits under a blanket with his head piteously bowed as streams of shoppers bustle past in Cambridge's busy market centre.

Jay, 33, a rough sleeper for the past 19 years, has spent yet another day in the biting cold waiting for residents to drop any spare change at his feet.

His livelihood is threatened by a council plan to thwart aggressive begging - and the 120 people involved in so-called street activity. In the "alternative giving" scheme, which is due to start this week, a collection of 10 blue donation boxes will be installed in prominent places such as Marks & Spencer and the railway station. Its aim is not just to urge residents to give generously to local homeless causes but to discourage them from giving spare change directly to beggars.

This plan was prompted by residents, students and visitors who complained last November that they were being harassed for money. The police in Cambridge began enforcing the Vagrancy Act of 1824, arresting 18 people and issuing 200 warnings.

Naisha Polaine, Cambridge City Council's housing needs manager, who runs services to rough sleepers, said the collection scheme was designed to tackle the route of the problem and diminish the numbers of beggars, regardless of whether they were aggressive.

"We want to discourage people from giving money to individuals. And we want to build a fund for distribution to local organisations. National statistics tell us 80 per cent of beggars have a drink or drug problem and they are begging to feed their addiction. Giving money to them isn't always in their best interests, and most already have a roof over their heads,'' she said.

John Raine, the police oOperational commander for Cambridge, denied that beggars who were not receiving cash would routinely turn to criminality. "In some cases it can force some people to face their addiction and seek help,'' he said.

Last year police revealed that beggars were earning up to £50 an hour by aggressive behaviour.

But residents, students and tourists were sceptical about the plan's efficacy. Colin Russell, a PhD student at Queens' College, said:"You can't buy drugs with charity box money. The most aggressive are on drugs. They are not going to stop because they see a few donation boxes in town."

Purple, a 23-year-old former landscape gardener, who became homeless after he lost his girlfriend, said: "Many of us have drink and drugs problems and are barred from centres which will receive these funds. No one begs because they want to.''

The homeless charity Crisis said the success of the campaign would depend greatly on the tone of the language used.

"If people who beg are depicted as an undeserving urban nuisance, then public attitudes will harden ... We hope instead the scheme is imaginative and positive and can help create and generate local understanding and sympathy,'' a spokeswoman said.

As for Jay, he doubted officialdom's latest ruse would do away with begging. "I don't ask people for their change. I just sit here quietly and I thank anyone who decides to give me some money. I don't believe that the donations that will go in the council's boxes will come to people like me," he said.

"Even in homeless day shelters, I have to find a way of paying for my shower, my food and my clothes. How will I get that if I can't sit here?''