Published on Monday 23 June 2025
Chewing gum is set to be removed from some streets of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole thanks to charity funding.
BCP Council is one of 52 Councils across the country to have received funding from the Chewing Gum Task Force - now in its fourth year - for grants to help clean gum off pavements.
The grants provide funding for local authorities to invest in immediate restorative and preventative action as well as long-term behavioural change to prevent gum from being littered in the first place.
Following last year's much welcomed successful grant award and the activities undertaken this funding will enable the council to remove gum at a number of new locations – including Falkland Square and the high streets of Poole, Boscombe and Winton - with £27,500 secured for the area.
Cllr Richard Herrett, Portfolio Holder for Destination, Leisure and Commercial Operations at BCP Council, said: “This funding will help support our teams keep town centres free from the unsightly blight of chewing gum.
“Businesses and residents have told us they want more to be done and it is great that we are able to work alongside Keep Britain Tidy to ensure action can be taken.
“Clearing gum isn’t simple - it takes specialist equipment - but the easiest way to avoid gum on our streets is for residents and visitors to discard their chewing gum in the bins provided.”
Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, Keep Britain Tidy’s chief executive, 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.”
Established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and 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.
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.