Brighton and Hove has been named the chewing gum capital of Europe by a man called in to clean up the mess.

Mike Barrett, service director with the Chewing Gum Removal Company, has been to dozens of cities around the world and has now been called in to do his magic on the city streets.

He said he had never before faced a challenge on this scale. Brighton and Hove City Council is spending almost £50,000 giving the pavements a spring clean in time for summer.

A team of 11 cleaners and one supervisor, armed with heated and pressurised water, have been working from 6pm to 6am to remove the ground-in blobs of discarded chewing gum.

It will take the cleaners about 16 days to complete the task, by which time some 76,000sqm of pavements will have been rid of the offending goo.

Mr Barrett said: "When we do these jobs, we clear two million pieces of chewing gum off the streets each week.

"I've never seen as much gum as I have in Brighton - and I have been doing this job all over the world."

The gum removal and street washing are part of the same contract costing £46,077.

A graffiti removal operation is set to start later this month costing £29,250 with the entire improvement operation costing £75,327.

The month-long blitz to remove graffiti will include putting on anti-graffiti coatings in some areas to prevent further daubings.

Councillor Chris Morley, chair of the city council's environment committee, said: "This is good news for the city. It is the first time we have undertaken such a major campaign to improve the appearance of our streets.

"It is an exciting initiative and we hope everyone in the city will notice the difference.

"Feedback from residents has told us that the cleanliness of our streets is important to them and we are tackling the issues people have raised, such as litter and graffiti."

In addition to the clean-up, 268 extra bins are being installed around the city during the coming weeks. They will have 'stubber' plates for tackling cigarette litter.

Mr Morley added: "Everyone has a vested interested in keeping the city looking good and everyone can do their bit to ensure it stays that way by using litter bins provided."

The problem with chewing gum clogging the city's streets is international, except in Singapore where gum is illegal.

Singapore imposed the ban in 1992 to keep its subway running on time after spent wads of gum were disposed of on train doors, prevented them from closing.

People convicted of trying to import gum face a year in jail and huge fines.