PROUD residents of market towns in the Yorkshire Dales are being urged to join a national pioneering project to rid our streets of one of today’s most pernicious eyesores – thousands of chewing gum stains on the pavements.

Dales folk are rightly proud of their beautiful rural scenery and their country towns and villages, which attract tourists in their millions over the years. But even thoroughfares like Skipton High Street – just voted the best in Britain – are disfigured by large areas of sticky, unsightly gum dropped mainly by teenagers.

This is recognised as being a national problem and last year, 15 local authorities joined up to run a test programme to clear up their streets and educate youngsters not to litter with their gum – and the results, published yesterday, have shown marked success.

On average, they reduced their gum litter by 43%, with some towns gaining even higher scores: Blackpool hit 54% and some smaller towns had scores of over 60%.

Announcing these results, junior minister Lord Hunt commented "Cleaning up litter costs hundreds of millions of pounds a year and removing chewing gum is not only expensive, but also very difficult.

“The best way to end the problem is by changing the behaviour of the minority so we can all live in a pleasant environment. I congratulate local authorities on their success and urge more to come forward."

• Anyone interested can apply to take part in the campaign by visiting a new dedicated website at www.chewinggumactiongroup.org.uk, which provides information on how to tackle gum litter effectively.