Croydon declares war on chewing gum

Litter louts who chuck their chewing gum on the floor are being warned they face a £75 fine as part of a new crackdown.

But teenagers are also being given pocket sized packets to put their discarded gum in - before throwing them into special chewing gum bins dotted round the town centre.

The scheme is being spearheaded by Croydon's Business Improvement District (BID), which organises gangs of cleaners to wash gum off the town's streets with high powered jets.

Ros Morgan, the project manager, said: “The message is that there are no more excuses for dropping gum on our streets.

“It is a multi-faceted campaign which should really help clean up the hot spot areas around Croydon.”

When the campaign starts next month, the “Gum Wraps” will be distributed on the streets.

They have catchy, stylised covers urging youngsters to use them for getting rid of the gum, rather than throwing it onto pavements.

But the softly softly approach will be backed up with a sting in the tail - Neighbourhood Enforcement Officers (NEOs) will be stepping up the hunt for offenders and are being told to take a tough line with anyone found throwing gum on to the streets.

Warning notices proclaiming “Chew this Over” and proclaiming £75 fixed penalty fines will be appearing in the centre during the campaign.

The success of the campaign will be measured by choosing ten town centre chewing gum hot spots and clearing them of all gum before it starts.

The hot spots, which include areas of North End, High Street, George Street and Croydon College, will then be checked at regular intervals to see how well publicity about the campaign and enforcement measures are working.

The scheme has come from the Government's new Chewing Gum Action Group, which has selected the town as one of 16 areas across the country to take part.

It starts in in Croydon on September 8, will run for a month.

In another arm of the campaign, Croydon BID, in conjunction with the Centrale and Whitgift shopping centres, is running a competition asking people to come up with an original poem about throwing chewing gum in the bin.

The winner will receive £150 worth of shopping vouchers, with the runner up receiving £100 in vouchers and third place £75 worth of vouchers.

Entries can be emailed to competitions@croydonbid.com with Chewing Gum in the subject line.

Alternatively they can be posted to Chewing Gum Competition, Croydon Business, 22 Park Street, Croydon CR0 1YE.

The closing date is midday on September 19.