People in Nottingham say the need for a new 'chewing gum taskforce' to clear the city streets is an unfortunate representation of society today. Nottingham City Council has secured cash for the taskforce and almost £3,000 will be spent each week to keep streets clean.
The Labour-run council has been granted £70,000, to be shared with Derby City Council, from a partnership between the Government and chewing gum brands. The council says it will use the grant money by investing in overtime for the four existing members of staff and two 'washdown vans'.
New signs will also be put up across the city to change the behaviour of visitors, particularly as thousands more are expected following Nottingham Forest's promotion to the Premier League. While the financing of the operation has generally been welcomed, some businesses say it is a shame it has come to this.
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Luisa Vicinanza-Bedi is the owner of Luisa's Artisan Chocolates in Sneinton Market. Her business seeks to create sweet treats which support the environment, and she has already landed awards for her work.
She said: "In Sneinton Market we have had big problems with fouling and people urinating. Chewing gum is more of a whole city problem.
"I think it is great money is being spent on it but people need to take it into their own hands. Why should they have a taskforce when people should be picking up their litter?
"It is disgusting and unfortunate. It says something about our society."
More than 40 councils across the UK will be receiving grants of up to £70,000 to clean gum off pavements and prevent it happening in the first place. Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7m and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 87% of England’s streets are stained with gum.
The scheme is also being supported by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle. Nottingham City Council and Derby City Council received the full amount of £70,000, and this will be split between the two authorities equally.
Jonathan Rigby, the owner of Page45, said a clean city will only go towards attracting more people to businesses at a time when they need the support the most. The comic book shop in Market Street recently underwent a refit and has been attracting new customers ever since, including the latest cohort of students.
Mr Rigby added: "It gets trampled into our business, not anywhere near as much as it used to compared to 20 years ago.
"I wouldn't say it is a huge problem but anything like this is positive."
The city council says: "Currently with the amount of gum on the paving and the time it takes to clear, this funding will support and tackle this issue. This is a task which requires more time and resources committing to it and without it, we will struggle to tackle the gum issues in our cities, as we are constantly challenged with competing essential service tasks such as the removal of litter, emptying of bins, removal of graffiti and the removal of fly-tipping.
"Nottingham city Councils Washdown teams wash out 4256.1 square-feet of alleyways over seven days a week, between 03.30am and 04.30am and after this our teams start working on gum removal, starting in the core of the city centre between the hours of 04.30am and 07.30am.
"After 07.30am, footfall and deliveries to local businesses are in full motion which limits the time we can spend on these streets, this results in the team taking up to three weeks, [working] in smaller sections daily, to clean a single high footfall street. With Nottingham Forest now also being placed in the Premier League the city will attract more visitors and investors, therefore this cleansing activity is vital not just for the visual impact but for the behavioural campaign to make visitors and citizens more aware of the impact on the environment that gum littering has."
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