Watford Borough Council is putting plans in place to remove the chewing gum that blights local streets after receiving a £8,000 grant to tackle the issue.

The council is one of 54 across the country that have successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force, now in its third year, for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent it from being littered again.

Established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the Chewing Gum Task Force Grant Scheme is open to councils across the UK who wish to clean up gum in their local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum from being dropped in the first place.

The Task Force is funded by major gum manufacturers including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, with an investment of up to £10 million spread over five years.

Monitoring and evaluation carried out by Behaviour Change – a not-for-profit social enterprise - has shown that in areas that benefitted from the first year of funding, a reduced rate of gum littering was still being observed six months after clean-up and the installation of prevention materials.

Elected Mayor of Watford, Peter Taylor, said: "We are incredibly thankful for the funding to help us remove chewing gum from St Albans Road. A special thanks to the local businesses who have shown their support by displaying campaign signage in their windows. This collective effort will allow us to clean up our local areas and invest in long-term behaviour change to prevent gum from being dropped in the first place."

Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.

In its second year the task force awarded 55 councils a total of £1.56 million, helping clean an estimated 440,000 m2 of pavement - an area equivalent to the Vatican City.

By combining targeted street cleaning with specially designed signage to encourage people to bin their gum, participating councils achieved reductions in gum littering of up to 60% in the first two months.

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive, said: “Chewing gum litter is highly visible on our high streets and is both difficult and expensive to clean up, so the support for councils provided by the Chewing Gum Task Force and the gum manufacturers is very welcome.

“However, once the gum has been cleaned up, it is vital to remind the public that when it comes to litter, whether it’s gum or anything else, there is only one place it should be – in the bin – and that is why the behaviour change element of the task force’s work is so important.”

Thank you to the following businesses on St Albans Road who have agreed to promote the campaign:

• Mieszko, 261 St Albans Road 
• Prince Hair Style, 257 St Albans Road 
• Greek Time, 257 St Albans Road 
• RH Newsagents, 251 St Albans Road 
• Oak Estates, 239 St Albans Road
• Remkays Hair & Beauty, 229 St Albans Road 
• Jenny's Cafe, 209 St Albans Road 
• Peri Peri Original, 203 St Albans Road
• Rosanna's Florist, 193 St Albans Road 
• Viento Coffee, 157 St Albans Road 
• Eurohaven Accountants, 136 St Albans Road 
• Co-op, 160-162 St Albans Road 
• Carpet Supermarket, 180-187 St Albans Road 
• Watford Home Aid, 250 St Albans Road
• GKT Wines, 254 St Albans Road 
• Master Fade, 179a St Albans Road 
• Moira Hair, 169 St Albans Road 
• Kelly's Caribbean Cuisine, 167 St Albans Road 
• KFC, 138-140 St Albans Road 
• Fresh Cut Sandwich Bar, 142 St Albans Road
• Rio's Peri Peri, 144 St Albans Road 
• 3 Chickens, 154 St Albans Road 
• The Gas Shop, 168 St Albans Road
• Mail Boxes etc, 186 St Albans Road
• The Coffer Arms, 188-192 St Albans Road 
• Harry Charles, 196 St Albans Road 
• Delite (North Watford) Post Office, 200 St Albans Road 
• Jon's Cutting Room, 210 St Albans Road 
• LALA Hair Salon, 368 St Albans Road 
• Mr Wireless, 218 St Albans Road 
• Designer Nailz, 212 St Albans Road 
• Tesco Express, 226-228 St Albans Road 
• Car Keys Solution, 232-234 St Albans Road 
• Rice Bowl, 238 St Albans Road
• Legacy Cutting Room, 248 St Albans Road 
• Mr Scissors, 256 St Albans Road 
• Kottu King, 258-260 St Albans Road