Work to remove chewing gum on Chester city centre's streets is complete, following funding received by the council earlier this year.

Cheshire West and Chester Council has completed its work to remove chewing gum on local streets after receiving over £25,700 in funding to tackle the issue.

Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7 million.

According to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England's streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.

The council was one of 52 across the country that successfully applied to the Chewing Gum Task Force for funds to clean gum off pavements and prevent further gum littering.

Cleansing teams targeted jet washing in hotspot areas and bright pink stickers were applied to bins in the city centre, asking people to bin their gum.

"We were delighted to receive this funding from Keep Britain Tidy to tackle this sticky problem," said councillor Stuart Bingham.

"Specialist contractors were used to remove chewing gum in hot spot areas in Chester's city centre.

"Everyone can play their part by disposing of their chewing gum responsibly, rather than dropping it on the ground."

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.

A spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy said: "Chewing gum continues to be an unsightly form of litter in our public spaces – though thankfully the scheme is leading to significant reductions.

"People need to remember that disposing irresponsibly of their gum causes harm to our environment as it takes years to decompose naturally and ultimately costs the public purse to clean it up." 

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.

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