Face-to-face paid charity fundraisers operating in Cheshire East will be controlled in future, following the signing of an agreement with the organisation that manages complaints.
Known as 'chuggers,' paid charity fundraisers operate in busy high streets or door to door and persuade members of the public to give financial support to a charity by signing up to a direct debit.
Wilmslow along with Macclesfield, Crewe, Congleton, Nantwich and Knutsford town centres will have strict limits on the numbers of fundraisers allowed to operate at a specific time, the days of the week they can be present and the streets they can work in.
Cheshire East Council has signed a site management agreement with the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association, which operates a code of fundraising practice and seeks to ensure the street fundraisers comply with the agreement.
Fundraisers must not pressure or pester potential customers, follow them in the street, stand within three metres of a shop doorway, cashpoint, pedestrian crossing or station entrance. They must also be satisfied the customer is not under the influence of drink or drugs, or is unable to give informed consent through illness.
The PFRA organisation has more than 120 recognised charities signed up to the code, which is self-regulatory. Cheshire East Council has joined over 100 other local authorities applying similar controls.
Steph Cordon, the Council's head of communities, said: "We have had far too many complaints from retailers and businesses, also members of the public, who say they are suffering inconvenience because of the presence of face-to-face fundraisers in their town centre.
"We want our town centres to be welcoming places and people should not feel deterred by the presence of paid charity workers and businesses should not suffer because customers are put off visiting their shops."
The new protocol for controlling street fundraisers will come into effect on June 22nd, when charities will be told which days of the week and where their representatives can operate.
The site agreement does not apply to volunteers making traditional coin collections.
Comments
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Next time you walk down Grove Street check out how many signs a certain opticians has out on the street and the location of said signs. My understanding is that the CEC policy states that there should be no more than one sign which should be positioned no more than one metre from the premises.
I believe that both the private sector and the 3rd sector should be treated the same. i.e. no discrimination in enforcement of Council policies.
http://bit.ly/1kiGtZa
Presumably CEC will now think themselves absolved of any further responsibility and dear old Ron Menlove (who claimed to have sorted this problem out in his election statement) can rest easy in his bed.
Why shouldn't these people be subject to the same sort of stringent regulation that applies to street collectors and door to door collectors who ask for money rather than for your bank details? Doesn't handing over your personal information carry more risk than handing over a couple of quid in loose change?
Chuggers are a menace in a high street environment and actively deter people from shopping in town centres like Wilmslow. This agreement is not a triumph, it is a capitulation on the part of the council (and the other councils who do the same), and an indication that they do not care about the security of their local taxpayers and shoppers.
On my return up the the street, the other girl did exactly the same thing. The young male with them was targeting the ladies.
Any comment from our CEC Councillors?