Aground-breaking by-law to ban ‘chuggers’ is set to be introduced in Birmingham after councillors agreed to back a recommendation banning it from city centre streets.
Aggressive street fundraisers, colloquially known as charity muggers or ‘chuggers’ could be banned from approaching and following shoppers after councillors agreed to back a new by-law.
Members of the city’s licensing committee approved the plans, despite an 11th hour intervention by a charity fundraising trade body offering to step in to police the fundraisers.
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The move follows an offer from representatives of Birmingham’s leading retail and business outlets to fund the cost of introducing the legislation.
A final plea by self-regulatory body, the Public Fundraising Association (PFRA), which offered to make sure the charity collectors were governed by its code of conduct, was dismissed by the licensing committee.
Lawyers are now set to draft legislation before it goes before the full council and is then handed to Local Government Minister Eric Pickles for the final go-ahead.
The proposed by-law will permit only passive collecting and ban collectors from approaching, following or obstructing pedestrians. Breaches could result in a fine of up to £500.
But this could take several months before it is introduced.
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The call for a by-law follows a survey of shoppers which revealed that 84 per cent said they were put off from walking around the city centre by the sheer number and persistence of chuggers. Nearly all of the 964 shoppers polled said they were against ‘chuggers’.
Birmingham City Centre Partnership and Retail Birmingham, which represents city centre shops and business, had demanded that the collectors were banned or more closely regulated and offered to cover the £12,000 cost to bring in a by-law to ban high-pressure fund-raising.
Jonathan Cheetham, chair of Retail Birmingham, said: “This is a great step forward in the campaign to regulate face-to-face fundraisers in our city centre. For over a year we have worked closely with Birmingham City Council licensing to conduct a public consultation, which found that 93 per cent of respondents were in favour of stopping face-to-face fundraisers, as they negatively affected visitor experience.
“The final legal step in securing a by-law comes at a pivotal time when Birmingham is seeing significant investment in large-scale transformational projects. Retail Birmingham and Birmingham City Centre Partnership recognise the importance of the by-law and have offered to co-fund the cost of the forthcoming legal process to allow Birmingham City Council to regulate this significant issue itself.”
Coun Gareth Moore, (Con, Erdington), called the charity collectors “a plague on the city.”
But he suggested that the fundraisers should be policed by a site management association or in a partnership with the PFRA, while the by-law is being prepared. He told yesterday’s licensing committee: “Other local authorities have entered into voluntary agreements with the PFRA and we should talk to these councils to see if it works.”
However, Coun Majid Mahmood (Lab, Hodge Hill) added: “There is nothing more annoying than being accosted when shopping. I am not against collections but think the time is right for regulation. You get stopped by one chugger and then another soon afterwards even though you have told their colleague you are not interested.
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“The sum of £12,000 is a small price to pay for the amount of businesses located in central Birmingham. We are introducing a by-law because this form of fundraising is a nuisance and is affecting the prosperity of the city. Why has the PFRA suddenly offered its services – the problem has been around for a long time?”
Committee chair Coun Barbara Dring (Lab, Oscott) stressed: “This is not to stop charities. It’s to stop nuisance and intimidation.”