Chewing gum is a sticky problem in Brighton and Hove (From The Argus)

Chewing gum is a sticky problem in Brighton and Hove

10:21am Friday 21st November 2008

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A little over a year ago a campaign was started to rid the streets of Brighton and Hove of chewing gum. So has it worked? SIOBHAN RYAN reports.

IT’S unsightly, expensive to remove and the bane of Brighton and Hove.

Yet thousands of people across the city are continuing to dump chewing gum on the ground instead of a bin.

The end result is a mess of congealing gum splattered across pavements with the city centre the worst hit.

Despite the threat of an on-the-spot fine of £75 if caught dropping litter, there have been no reports of cases yet involving gum, despite the obvious evidence.

The city council spends thousands of pounds a year cleaning up the mess but removing it is time consuming and costly and the battle a continuous one.

It is urging people to do their bit and take responsibility.

Although city residents agree people should take their share of the blame, they also argue the council should be out cleaning more often, especially in the busy city centre.

In the course of just one hour in one morning this week, The Argus spotted wads of gum spattered across pavements along Church Road in Hove and Western Road, North Street, West Street, Ship Street and Cranbourne Street in Brighton.

It was difficult to walk more than a few yards without spotting pieces of gum.

Ironically, some of the highest concentrations of gum were found around litter bins while other hot spots included bus stops outside M&S in Western Road.

“Disgusting”, “horrible” and “it makes the place look rough”

were among some of the comments from passers-by.

Megan Guy, 19, a student from Brighton studying at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music, chews gum herself but insists she always puts it in the bin.

She said: “The simple answer is don’t throw it in the street. It’s disgusting. I can understand why people get angry at the state of the place and I agree it should be kept cleaner.

“But this area is used by so many people each day and it is expensive to use those special cleaners so I can see why it might get like this.”

Pensioners Doug and Alison Davis from Hove were horrified by the state of some of the pavements.

Mr Davis said: “Every time I see it I am embarrassed at how it looks. We get so many visitors to Brighton and it is not nice.

“We pay a lot of money to the council to keep the streets clean so I’d like to see more of it.”

Mrs Davis said: “I’ve been to other cities in England and I often notice just how clean the pavements seem to be there.

“If they can do it there, why can’t they do it here as well?”

Shop owners also highlighted their concerns.

Hubert Flavius is the manager of the recently opened Hotel Chocolat in Duke Street.

He said: “I’ve recently come from London and up there you would see those specialist cleaners out in force almost every morning.

“We’ve been here for two or three weeks now and I haven’t seen anything.

“This is a busy place and there are shops and a restaurant around. It doesn’t really give a good impression.”

Bus passenger Pamela Carsaniga, 77, from Brunswick Square, Hove, was scathing about the mess.

She said: “It looks disgusting and the pavements should be cleaned up far more often. They should not be allowed to get in this state.

“People should be made to pick up their gum and put it in a bin if they are caught doing so.

If they keep doing it they should be made to go around the city and clean up other areas.”

The city council says it spends thousands of pounds on cleaning up gum but there is only so much it can do.

A year ago it began a campaign to target specific areas of the city including North Road and West Street.

It involved posters and vinyl pavement adverts to warn gum chewers that dropping their litter could result in a fixed penalty fine.

The council has a special steam clean machine to tackle the pavements but to do the work on all the city’s streets would cost millions.

Each year the council cleans up the equivalent of 2.2 million pieces of gum, covering more than 48,000sqm of pavement.

This equates to 46 pieces of gum per square metre and costs the city’s taxpayers more than £25,000 a year.

A city council spokesman said: “Cleaning gum from streets is a specialist and expensive process.

“From time to time specialist contractors are used but to clean gum off every pavement in the city would cost around £4.5 million.

“We appreciate this is an issue which annoys and concerns people. Clearly the onus has to be on users not to litter the streets.

“Last year the council joined the Chewing Gum Action Group campaign to encourage people to dispose of gum responsibly and it is really this sort of national action which can help to change attitudes.”

What do you think should be done to stop people dropping gum in the street? Tell us below

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