BROMSGROVE District Council has moved to clarify the rules surrounding charity collectors on the High Street.
It comes after a letter in last week’s Standard from Coun Malcolm Glass which claimed the representatives were only allowed to canvass in the town centre on one day-a-week.
We were contacted by Rob Cartwright who asked, if that was correct and which day were the charity collectors allowed to canvass?
He said: “It would be good if this day was publicised.
“My last visit into town was less than 30 minutes and I called into three shops.
“During this period I was approached by six charity collectors and salespeople.
“This is overboard and their approach is sometimes aggressive and something I would happily avoid in the future.”
Bromsgrove District Council set up a Site Management Agreement (SMA) for ‘face-to-face fund-raising’ in the town centre in a bid to find a balance between the duty of charities and not-for-profit organisations to fund-raise and for shoppers to go about their business unhampered.
According to the agreement, the pedestrianised area of the High Street between New Road and Stratford Road should only have fund-raisers on it on Mondays and Wednesdays and there should be no more than five.
Only one charity organisation should be present on one day and the fund-raising should only be carried out between 9am and 7pm.
Anyone wanting to work outside these agreed locations must comply with requests from Local Authority Officials to reposition themselves when they are asked to.
According to the document: ‘Fund-raisers should also be positioned in a way to offer an adequate comfort zone to those users of the public highway who do not want to engage.”
It also states there should be at least one metre between fund-raisers and shop fronts and they should be three metres away from each other and other legitimate street activities (street traders, Big Issue sellers, buskers, newspaper stands, promotional activities and market researchers).
Anyone who finds charity collectors not adhering to the agreement should report them to the Fundraising Standards Board – people can visit www.frsb.org.uk and lodge their complaint there.
- WHAT DO you think? Have you been hampered by charity collectors in Bromsgrove High Street? Maybe you think other areas are much worse or you might think they should be banned altogether. Whatever your view, email it to [email protected]
