£9,000

IT'S A sticky situation! Enough chewing gum has been dropped in Southampton's pedestrian precinct since it was revamped ten months ago to stretch all the way to Bournemouth.

Now clear-up teams have swung into action in a £9,000 operation to remove more than 36,000 pieces of gum from the 150 metre section of Above Bar.

So much has been carelessly discarded that the new paving has changed colour.

Grime-busting units are working five hours a day from before dawn using hi-tech cleaning equipment which sprays powerful jets of water at the gum, food or coke before scrubbing and drying the offending article.

Southampton City Council, which has dispatched the teams, aims to restore the precinct to its former glory.

Executive member for the environment and transport, Cllr Richard Williams, said: "We are blitzing the Above Bar precinct first and them moving to other areas of the city with our new equipment which can remove stubborn bits of gum.

"It is incredible that we worked out there had been about 36,800 pieces of gum to clean up since the area was revamped in October last year - that's 3,600 every month.

"There are chewing-gum bins and they should be used. The council is very keen to make sure that the city is kept to as high a standard of cleanliness as possible. Using new technology to help us achieve this aim is seen as a real step forward."

He added that the gum hot spots were around cash points.

With each piece stretching to about four feet, the total length of gum being removed from the 4,600sq m area of Above Bar, if laid end to end, would reach Bournemouth.

Grounds and cleansing manager John Dyer-Slade said the amount was worked out from a survey of several square-metre sections of paving.

He said: "Our message to people is to dispose of chewing gum carefully because removing it is a real nightmare.

"We are testing a new environmentally friendly product - a liquid which breaks down the gum and make it easier to get off."