The latest stage of an ongoing project to rid a town centre of a “disgusting habit” has been completed.

An initiative aimed at removing chewing gum stains across Gravesend was funded by a £27,160 grant earlier this year.

Work took place to cleanse the pavements in 19 streets in the town centre, including outside the railway station, covering 14,500 square metres, over the last few months.

Gravesham council was one of 54 across the country that successfully applied for help from a Chewing Gum Task Force grant, administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.

With the fresh funds its cleaning teams were also able to deep clean pavements to remove ingrained dirt and grime and erect signage to discourage future chewing gum littering.

The Task Force, which was set up by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is funded by major gum manufacturers, including Mars Wrigley and Perfetti Van Melle, with an investment of up to £10million spread over five years.

Monitoring and evaluation carried out by not-for-profit Behaviour Change has shown that in areas that benefitted from the first year of funding, a reduced rate of gum littering was still being observed six months after clean-up and the installation of prevention materials.

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.

Cllr Emma Morley, Gravesham council’s cabinet member for operational services, said: “We are grateful to the Chewing Gum Task Force for their support in our battle to keep our streets cleaner and safer.

“That doesn’t end now – it will continue, as will our efforts to educate those who still think it’s acceptable to drop gum on the pavement; it isn’t and never will be.

“And it’s a quite frankly disgusting habit that leaves others picking it out of their shoes and carpets at home having unwittingly trodden in discarded gum.

“This work will run alongside that of our cleansing team who collect 8 tonnes of waste and litter around the borough every day, and our ever-growing community of volunteer street champions who take the time and make the effort to keep their neighbourhoods clean.”

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

Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy, said: “We know this issue won’t be solved overnight, even in areas where the gum has been cleaned up, but we’re confident that with innovation, research and small behaviour changes provided through the Chewing Gum Task Force, together we can tackle this sticky issue.”