LETTERS are to be sent to schools in Spalding highlighting problems of chewing gum being dropped on town centre streets.
Spalding Town Centre Neighbourhood Panel, in conjunction with the police, decided to take action after discussing ways of tackling the sticky issue and spitting in the street at its latest meeting.
Members also agreed to contact South Holland District Council to ask for the street cleaning team or those involved in the Community Payback team to have a purge on cleaning up the gum.
The latest meeting of the neighbourhood panel was particularly well attended after PCSOs carried out a leaflet drop in St Thomas’s Road encouraging more people to come forward to highlight issues affecting the town and attempt to find solutions.
At the meeting, chairman Julie Grant said new members are always welcome, adding: “To move forward we need to highlight any new problems that occur in the town centre or any that may have been quiet for a while but have started up again.
“Whilst we all have our own area issues, some of these will never stop completely so spending time at these meetings discussing them time after time will be a waste of our energies.”
Some of the other issues raised at the meeting included theft of bikes, rubbish being thrown in residents’ gardens, bottles being smashed in the street, lack of rubbish bins, street drinking, defecation in alleyways, urinating in the streets.
They also discussed the need for at least one toilet block in the town being left open 24 hours a day.
With regards to rubbish, members agreed to contact the Environment Agency to raise concerns about the state of the River Welland and the Coronation Channel.
The group has had a number of successes in dealing with issues since it started in June 2010, including tidying and cutting the hedge at Broad Street car park, replacement of a fire damaged lamppost in the Swan Street area and liaising with the council on issues such as graffiti.
The next meeting will be held on April 10 at 7pm at the district council offices in Priory Road, Spalding (to be confirmed).