PEOPLE caught spitting chewing gum out in the street face £50 fines, civic chiefs warned today.

The move is part of a major new campaign being pioneered by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The problem of used chewing gum being spat on to the streets of the borough has become so bad the council has joined a new campaign to tackle the issue.

The area has been identified as one of the 20 worst in the UK for the problem, labelled 'Britain's secret scourge,' and is now joining with the other affected authorities to demand financial support and investment in products like non-stick gum from the industry itself.

The councils, including Edinburgh, Belfast, Leeds and Liverpool, claim that a single piece of gum costs just 3p to buy, but 10p to clean up.

Last year a number of councils were invited to join the new campaign, and Blackburn with Darwen stepped forward.

The authority has been attempting to clamp down on the problem for a number of years, but council bosses admit the situation has not been tackled, especially around food retailers.

Hot spots include town centre streets and outside takeaways, where people spit out gum before getting food.

And council chiefs believe the problem is getting worse. Coun Mohammed Khan, executive member for housing and neighbourhoods, said a major public education campaign was needed to overcome the problem.

He said: "The mess made on the borough's streets by irresponsibly discarded chewing gum is appalling.

"It is time the manu-facturers and the people who throw gum on to the ground take responsibility for their actions.

"We will issue a fixed penalty notice of £50 to anyone seen disposing of gum onto the floor.

"The council is determined to rid our streets of this unsightly mess."

So far the group of councils have paid to take out a full-page advert in a national newspaper, and set up a website, featuring a hard-hitting image of a shoe stuck to the ground with chewing gum.

Blackburn with Darwen Council has contributed £500 to the campaign.

The drive coincides with a Government backed conf-erence on the issue, and it is hoped the advert will send a message to the event, which will include delegates from chewing gum manufacturers.

In the future, more national newspaper adverts could be taken out highlighting the problems faced by the borough councils.

It is estimated that the chewing gum industry is worth about £300million a year, and the councils argue that charging just one pence more per packet would give £9million per year to put towards cleaning gum from the streets.

In 2003 Blackburn with Darwen Council chiefs set aside a kitty of £750,000 to tackle littering in the town, including chewing gum.

And last year plans were put forward to place special chewing gum boards around the town to stop people spitting gum on to the floor, but the idea was ditched as unhygienic.

Currently the borough tackles the problem as part of its general anti-litter campaign, Thrash the Trash.