AN alternative to aiding street beggars is being set up in Scarborough through donation boxes in shopping centres, banks and public buildings.

Town centre manager Malcolm Hall said: "The scheme, while helping genuine cases, deters the professional beggar.

"It is intended to deter the public from giving on the streets, but rather to use the boxes provided.

"If this happens, we will see a drastic reduction of beggars on the streets and an increase of funding to organisations that generally have no regular means of income-generation, such as The Salvation Army, other than their own efforts."