People who drop gum on the streets of Oxford could soon be given something to chew over if a Green city councillor has his way.

Craig Simmons, who represents Oxford's St Mary's ward, wants to introduce 'gum targets' in a bid to reduce the mess caused by dropped chewing gum.

The targets would be posters which feature catchy slogans, questions or the faces of celebrities and politicians.

The aim would be to encourage gum chewers to stick their used gum to the posters rather than drop it on footpaths.

Mr Simmons said: "It's a fun thing and I think it would be worth doing. Chewing gum is ruining our pavements. We don't want to spend money on new pavements only to see them peppered with white splodges."

He added: "The clean-up costs are significant and we would rather spend the money on a scheme like this than a clean-up campaign."

Mr Simmons said the gum targets would probably feature questions such as 'Should smoking be banned in public places?' -- and invite people to vote on the issue with their used gum.

The cost of the gum targets would be minimal, said Mr Simmons, but the problem would be where to put them.

"We're looking specifically at Cowley Road at the moment, but it could spread to other parts of the city if successful," he said. Councillors will discuss the scheme at a meeting next Wednesday.

As reported in yesterday's Oxford Mail, councillors this week voted almost unanimously in support of a call by Lib Dem councillor David Rundle for a national levy of at least 1p on each packet of chewing gum.

Money raised through the levy would be used to pay for gum to be cleaned from the city's streets -- a hefty bill that may fall on the council once new litter laws come into effect.

Since 1998, sales of chewing gum have increased by 50 per cent. Councils across the country have adopted different approaches to tackle the blight of chewing gum. Some have put up chewing gum posts and others have used special jets to blast gum from pavements.

Luton City Council was one of the first councils to introduce gum targets. Within the first year of the targets being in place, councillors noticed a marked decrease in the amount of gum on pavements.