Around £27,000 is being spent on a task force to remove chewing gum off the streets.

Gravesham council has received the grant after successfully applying to the Chewing Gum Task Force to pay for the cleaning of pavements, along with efforts to stop people from chucking it on the floor in the first place.

Established by Defra and run by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, the scheme is open to councils across the country who wish to clean up gum in their area and invest in education to stop it being dropped.

It 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.

Gravesham council is one of 54 authorities across the UK which will benefit from the scheme, which is in its third year.

Cabinet member for operational services Cllr Emma Morley said: “There is nothing worse than treading in someone else’s discarded gum and then treading into your home or car carpets.

“Discarded gum also stains pavements and other pedestrian areas, leaving them unsightly and difficult for our teams to clean.

“This is the second year we have received a grant from the Chewing Gum Task Force and, as before, we will be putting the money to good use not only using specialist equipment to clean gum from our streets and pavements but also working to educate and enlighten those who do not currently bin their gum.”

Estimates suggest the annual clean-up cost of chewing gum for councils in the UK is around £7 million and, according to Keep Britain Tidy, around 77% of England’s streets and 99% of retail sites are stained with gum.

In its second year, the task force awarded 55 local authorities a total of £1.56 million, helping clean an estimated 440,000 sq m of pavement - an area equivalent to the Vatican City.

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