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Boris gets tough on gum crime
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard11 Jul 2008
A million pieces of chewing gum have been dropped in the West End over the past three years, cleaners claimed today.
The figures came as Boris Johnson announced a "zero tolerance" approach to litter in the centre of London.
The New West End Company's cleaning team for Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street said it had also washed more than 2,250 square miles of pavement, removed 40,000 pieces of graffiti and fly-posting and cleaned 36,000 benches and other street furniture since 2005.
The Mayor said: "People fail to realise the cumulative impact of spitting out their gum, or chucking a piece of litter, but it creates an unacceptable blight on our streets which other people then have to scrape up or sweep away. I am determined to clamp down on the blight of litter." Westminster council has also pledged to revamp central London in time for the Olympics.
Reader views (1)
At last, the voice of sensibility has raised its head in London with regard to all the ghastly chewing gum which is stuck, almost unable to remove, from out pavements, especially in the West End.
Have a look on a rainy day, when it shows up more, I guarantee you that you will not find one square inch of pavement in Oxford street which is gum free.
Two weeks ago, The Museum of London opened an exhibition entitled The Big Smoke, where they have blamed cigarette ends for the majority of litter on our streets, which is utterly ridiculous.
Boris, as usual, has the right ideas, and is not scared to implement them.
- Peter Thurgood, London, UK, 16/07/2008 12:55
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