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Cracking down on street gum grime
Coun Paul Greenall
Pavements blighted by chewing gum stains are being cleaned up to make town centres more appealing.
West Lancashire Council is carrying out the work in Ormskirk and Burscough using a jet-powered cleaner to blast the gum off the paving stones.
Work will also be carried out in other villages, including Tarleton, Rufford and Hesketh Bank, as and when necessary.
And the council is warning that anyone caught throwing their gum away could be hit with a £75 fixed penalty notice.
Coun Paul Greenall, portfolio holder for street scene services, said: “Dropping gum in the streets is not only a disgusting habit – it’s an offence.
“We know that local people want to see the streets clean and tidy so while we carry out this special clean-up operation we are also warning people that our street scene officers are on the watch.
“Anyone who dumps gum on the street could face a £75 fixed penalty notice.”
The council has worked with Lancashire County Council, the highways authority, to carry out the chewing gum clean-up. In Ormskirk, work has been completed on some of the town centre paved areas, and further work will be done in a few weeks’ time.
The clean-up is targeted on the flagged pavement areas outside the shops and around litter bins, where most of the gum is dropped.
The power jet will not be used on the block-paved areas in the centre of the streets in order to avoid causing any damage.
Work is being carried out on Sundays when town centres are at their quietest to cause the minimum of disruption.
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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