THE costly scourge of chewing gum in South Tyneside is blighting the borough, a worried councillor has warned.
Bubblegum ‘blackspots’ are everywhere in our town centres.
It costs South Tyneside Council £2,000 a week to hire the specialist chewing gum removal equipment needed to hot wash and spray clean our dirty pavements.
The authority last carried out such sustained work two years ago, but with tight budget restrictions, the council – which had a £1.5m street cleaning budget for 2012/13 – can ill-afford to fork out again.
Borough litter louts responsible for defacing our pavements face a maximum £50 on-the-spot fine – and in the last three years, our community wardens have issued 200 fixed penalty notices for gum, paper and cigarette littering.
But Coun John Wood today called on offenders to “quit this disgusting practice”.
He has also highlighted the public health dangers from spitting out gum.
“Every single piece of gum on our streets is someone’s spit,” said Coun John Wood, who represents the Beacon and Bents ward in South Shields for Labour.
He added: “We thought we had the problem licked a couple of years ago when we did the last major clean-up of gum, but it’s back again.
“Because they have to use certain chemicals to get the gum off, the work had to be done at night.
“It’s not something we can do on a regular basis because of the costs.
“And it’s not just the young who are responsible for this – there are plenty of adults who are guilty too.”
“In recent months we have had so many people complaining of headaches, stomach problems and diarrhoea. That’s the result of germs being spread and one way is through discarded chewing gum.
“People get it on their shoes and pick it off with their hands. That is how germs spread.
“Think of babies who are in pushchairs – they are the closest to the ground where this gum is discarded.
“Away from the public health dangers, we also need to consider the visitors to the town and the disfiguring impact it has on our streets.”
One particular area of concern is outside Keppel Street post office in South Shields, which is littered with flattened gum deposits. Coun Wood added: “There is no excuse for this. There are plenty of places to dispose of gum hygienically.
“It doesn’t have to be this way. I visited Belfast and the streets are perfectly clean. We need to learn from that example and behave responsibly.”
Coun Tracey Dixon, the council’s lead member for area management and community safety, said: “Discarded chewing gum is very unpleasant and can lead to a fine, prosecution and even a criminal record.
“If residents and visitors do the right thing and put their chewing gum in a bin, it means a better environment for us all.
“Cleaning up chewing gum is difficult, time-consuming and expensive, costing local authorities about £150m a year.
“In recent years, we have used a number of removal techniques, but the cheapest way is not to discard it in the first place – so we do what we can to raise awareness of the issue.
“It is unhygienic and unsightly, but chewing gum does not pose a threat to children’s health and wellbeing.
“We would advise people to wash their hands if they have to remove chewing gum from their shoes.”
Twitter: @shieldsgazpaul
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