Chewing gum spray-painted by Salisbury City Council

Salisbury City Council hoped highlighting the clean-up cost will deter people from dropping gum

Discarded chewing gum "blighting" a city's streets has been spray-painted by a fed-up council.

Salisbury City Council is facing a £36,000 bill to steam clean squashed pieces of gum of its pavements.

Chalk-based paint has been sprayed around scores of spots on the High Street to highlight problem areas.

"It costs 3p per stick to buy and 10p to prise off the streets. It's a blight on our beautiful city," a council spokesman said.

Salisbury has 20,000 sq m (215,280 sq ft) of pavements and "a lot of chewing gum", according to the council.

Although the authority has "no legal obligation to clear it up", it said an operation to get rid of it was under way.

"It's hoped by raising awareness of the huge cleaning cost, chewers will be encouraged to use waste bins rather than dropping their gum," the council said.

The council said it was not legally obliged to clean gum up.

One city resident said it was "disgusting that people just drop their chewing gum anywhere".

"I'm a chewing gum person myself but I always wrap it in a tissue or throw it in a bin," he added.

Another said it was "surprising how much people chuck things down - especially gum" and "it doesn't look nice".

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On Facebook, residents have been calling for the culprits to be fined.

Adam Jacobs posted: "Why not fine people just like when they discard a cigarette end?" while Rich Green, suggested "£100 on the spot if caught".

Annette Hardy said: "It doesn't take much to put it in a bin or wrap it up and take it home."