If you ask business leaders what the biggest problems are in any towns or cities, they will nearly always say traffic and parking.

These two problems did feature high in a survey of 100 businesses undertaken for the Brighton Town Centre Business Forum.

But they were surpassed by the problem of begging which many firms think is highly off-putting to the image of the city and they are right.

While most towns and cities have some beggars, few outside central London have them in anything like the same quantity as Brighton.

What's to be done about it? Plenty, including the multi-pronged attack on homelessness launched by Brighton and Hove Council along with many agencies.

There's also The Argus' Don't Give to Beggars campaign and the new Begging for Change initiative which has support from Cabinet Minister Mo Mowlam and the police.

This persuades people to give cash, not to beggars but to charities which help them solve their problems.

There is no need for anyone to beg on the streets of Brighton and Hove when there are well-supported organisations with the expertise to support them.

Moving beggars off the streets and into temporary housing not only helps them directly but also helps Brighton and Hove create more prosperity essential for funding housing charities.