A “HARD-HITTING” campaign is to start by Bradford Council to tackle the blight of litter, fly-tipping and dog fouling across the district.

A report to councillors outlines Neighbourhood Services is in discussions with the national environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy to target litter louts over the next year.

While a timetable is yet to be finalised, the first wave of the campaign will begin next month in an effort to stop people from dropping chewing gum on the ground, which the report describes as a “significant problem” within Bradford.

“It is very costly and time consuming to remove and removal itself can cause damage to some surfaces such as Tarmac,” says the report.

Bradford Council will align with a national campaign organised by the Chewing Gum Action Group (CGAG) to change behaviour and make people think twice before dropping their gum on roads and pavements.

Since mid-July, eight private enforcement officers have been patrolling the streets of Bradford and issuing Fixed Penalty Notices to people who drop litter, urinate and spit, as well as Dog Control Order offences.

While figures for the number of penalties have not been issued, officers have already targeted chewing gum culprits.

“This is a good time for the Council to be involved,” the report says. “The new enforcement team has already fined people for discarding gum and the campaign will explain that discarded chewing gum is litter.”

The campaign will begin in Bradford city centre on October 5, according to the report, and will then be rolled out to Shipley and other centres.

Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s executive member for environment, said: “It’s part of Keep Britain Tidy and it’s part of Bradford’s continuing campaign around littering and keeping out streets clean and tidy.

“There’s a problem all over the country, Bradford is no different to any other city or town, we’re doing a lot of work around littering and this is another example of work we are doing around chewing gum, which is a form of littering.

“Tackling littering is a campaign that the Council is running and has been running - this is just another string to that bow.

“It’s harder to remove than litter that you sweep up and it’s raising awareness to people that chewing gum is litter - it goes down on to the pavement and it stays there.”

She added: “Put it in a piece of tissue, put it your pocket or put it in the bin.

“It doesn’t look good, it’s sticky, it takes some removing and people may not realise that this type of littering is harder to remove.”

Cllr Ferriby said that enforcement action was having an impact.

“It does change behaviour, you can see around the city centre where enforcement has been taking place, it does make a difference,” she said.

“It is not acceptable to drop litter, so please don’t do it in our towns, cities, our villages and our district.

“The majority of people dispose of their litter correctly. It’s only the few, not the majority and it’s changing the minority.”

The Council’s area co-ordinator Damian Fisher described the chewing gum issue as “particularly nasty” because of the cost to remove it and likened it to cleaning Scotland’s Forth Road Bridge. He said the aim of the campaign was to change behaviour

CGAG says that every piece of gum on the pavement costs 10p to clean up.

It also points to a Local Environmental Survey of England which found gum on 95 per cent of primary retail and commercial sites.

Last year, 11 local authorities across the country took part in CGAG’s campaign, leading to 36 per cent less gum litter on average and a 64 per cent reduction in one area.

After the crackdown on chewing gum, the Council will target people throwing litter from their cars.

Signs will be posted in “strategic” locations of the district to get the message across.

The report includes initial Keep Britain Tidy artwork for the signs, which includes a pair of eyes in a car’s rear view mirror, with the message “Litterers we’re watching you” and “Bin it, drive it home, or pick up an £80 fine”.

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