A former mayor is spearheading a campaign to remove chewing gum from the streets of Brighton and Hove.

Councillor Jenny Barnard-Langston said removal was costing city taxpayers thousands of pounds a year.

Now she has written to manufacturers asking: "I would be interested to know what can be done right now to rid our pavements of this filthy mess."

She believes manufacturers have a responsibility to make gum degradable after viewing the mess in The Lanes, North Street and the paved area outside the Churchill Square shopping mall.

Coun Barnard-Langston said: "It is a real problem. Nothing seems to be being done about it. The result is that the city centre streets look a mess."

GumFighters, a specialist firm, has shown the council how gum can be cleaned off pavements using steam pressure and a cleaning agent.

Mark Williams-Thomas, marketing director of the firm, said: "The paved area outside the main Churchill Square shopping precinct is the worst area I have ever seen for discarded chewing gum.

"The only place I have visited with a bigger problem is Oxford Street in London."

Coun Barnard-Langston said: "It seems the gum has an ingredient that does not lend itself to becoming degradable and once walked in seems to act as a magnet for dirt that cannot be removed through the normal street-cleansing programme.

"We take a pride in our city and many of our streets, particularly in the city centre, and have taken steps to enhance this thriving city.

"It is causing considerable disappointment among the citizens of Brighton and Hove that the new paving becomes quickly tarnished with unsightly black spots caused by the careless discarding of gum.

"I believe chewing gum manufacturers have a responsibility to make gum that dissolves rather than damages."

Labour councillor MIke Middleton, who represents the Seven Dials area of Brighton, said: "It is a problem. It does make the centre look rather messy."