High-footfall areas in Harrogate and Skipton are set to be cleared of chewing gum after North Yorkshire Council secured £27,500 in grant funding for specialist cleaning equipment.
For the third consecutive year, the council has received the maximum grant amount available through the national Chewing Gum Task Force. The scheme, established by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, provides funding to clean pavements and install measures designed to discourage gum littering.
Waste and street scene teams will target busy hotspot locations across both towns. In previous years, the council deployed the grant funding to carry out pavement cleaning in Malton, Northallerton, Scarborough, and Selby.
Cllr Richard Foster, executive member for managing our environment, said: “Although most people dispose of their gum responsibly, it continues to spoil the appearance of high footfall areas and well-used public spaces. This additional funding will be used to expand our efforts and invest in more specialist equipment which can remove even the most stubborn gum.”
North Yorkshire Council is one of 50 local authorities across the country awarded funding in the latest round. Over the past four years, the Chewing Gum Task Force has distributed £6.46 million in grants, cleaning more than 4.15 million square metres of pavement and reducing gum littering by up to 86 per cent in targeted areas.
