Chewing gum grant 'not the best use of money'

Residents of a Surrey town which will benefit from a grant of over £12,000 to clean up chewing gum believe the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Reigate and Banstead Borough Council (RBBC) has received £12,141.86 from the Chewing Gum Task Force established by Defra and said the money was "ring-fenced".

The task force administered by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy has awarded £6.46m worth of grants to councils in the last four years.

But residents of Redhill, including Nancy Hammond, said they didn't believe cleaning up gum was "the best use of money".

She said: "I do think it's a bit of a problem but I think the pigeon mess is more of a problem, and it would be better if they cleaned that up, and dog poo, [it's] everywhere."

Russell Walker agreed, arguing that the money could be used to get more people to pick up litter, or put up deterrents for birds.

"The parks, they're looked after, but not enough, the town's not looked after enough," he said.

Bob Killminster would prefer for the money to be spent on "filling the potholes in on the roads".

"I think the roads in Surrey are probably worse than anywhere else," he said.

Calling the news "absolutely ridiculous", Louise Gurney said the biggest issue to sort was "all the cars that are parked in the pedestrian area".

A spokesperson for RBBC said: "The nature of the funding is that it is ring-fenced specifically to tackle the issue of gum littering.

"However, Redhill has benefitted from millions in investment in other ways in recent years and we continue to invest in the town.

"As an example, we recently refurbished the café, outdoor gym, trim trail and tennis courts at Memorial Park and have announced plans to refurbish the playground later in the year, following a complete revamp of the park around 10 years ago."

Addressing specific concerns, the spokesperson acknowledged that Redhill experienced "persistent issues with litter" but said "dedicated litter-picking operations" took place seven days a week.

Potholes were the responsibility of Surrey County Council, they added.

Last month Runnymede Borough Council received £23,000 for the same effort, adding to its 2025 grant, while last September Mole Valley District Council received £7,000 to carry out a clean-up in Dorking.

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