Bristol is first ‘trailblazer’ council to beat the beggars

Bristol, Brighton, Leeds, Camden and Westminster were selected in October 2003 to crack down on begging (HT 17 October 2003).

Bristol council received £300,000 to fund the project over a three-year period and is the first of the trailblazers to claim to have stopped begging altogether.

In August 2002 the council found 285 beggars in the city. A council spokeswoman this week said the figure was now “almost zero”.

The word has spread that Bristol is not the place to beg. We are continuing to work to prevent it, rather than stop it

Spokeswoman, Bristol City Council

Under the “trailblazer” scheme, the five councils aimed to cut begging 60% by March 2005. The spokeswoman said Bristol hit the target early by channelling the funding into its Streetwise scheme, involving police, housing officers and specialist drug workers.

In this scheme, contact is made with beggars who are then helped into drug treatment programmes and supported housing. The council has the power to issue antisocial behaviour orders against persistent offenders, which can result in imprisonment. A council spokeswoman said: “We need to keep reminding people of the issues around begging and continue our work so that we can prevent it, rather than stop it. But the word has spread that Bristol is not the place to beg.”