BCP Council secures gum removal funding to tackle 'unsightly blight'
Nearly £30,000 is being spent to scrape off gum from pavements in filthy areas like Poole High Street and Boscombe
Last updated 24th Jun 2025
Chewing gum is set to be scrubbed from the streets of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, thanks to a £27,500 grant secured by BCP Council through a national clean-up initiative.
The funding comes from the Chewing Gum Task Force, a scheme launched by Defra and managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.
Now in its fourth year, the initiative supports councils across the UK in cleaning gum-strewn pavements and encouraging behaviour change to prevent future littering.
Cllr Richard Herrett said: “This will help support our teams to keep town centres free from the unsightly blight of chewing gum. Businesses and residents have told us they want more to be done.”
Following last year's successful grant award and the activities undertaken this funding will enable the council to remove gum at a number of new locations
BCP Council is among 52 local authorities to benefit from this year’s round of funding and will focus its efforts across key locations, including Falkland Square, and the high streets of Poole, Boscombe and Winton.
“Clearing gum isn’t simple – it requires specialist equipment – but the easiest solution is for people to use the bins provided,” Cllr Herrett added.
Keep Britain Tidy chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said the initiative is already delivering results. “Chewing gum continues to be an unsightly form of litter in our public spaces. People need to remember that gum takes years to decompose and costs the public purse to clean up.”
The scheme aims not only to remove existing gum but also to promote long-term behavioural change by making littering socially unacceptable.
As more councils take action, the programme hopes to curb one of Britain’s most persistent – and sticky – litter problems.