A NORTH-EAST town is helping to front a new campaign to get the country out of a sticky situation.

Twenty cities and towns, including Middlesbrough, have clubbed together to take a full page advert in a national newspaper to tackle the problem of discarded chewing gum.

The coalition is demanding that the Government and the chewing gum industry - worth £300m a year - provides the cash to help councils get rid of the problem.

Councillor Bob Kerr, Middlesbrough Council's executive member for Streetscene services, said: "The problem with chewing gum shows how a moment's carelessness or lack of respect for your environment can add up to a huge bill for the council tax payer.

"We have got to take every opportunity to get across the message to people - don't throw it away."

The campaign group says that it costs 3p to produce a piece of gum and 10p to clean it from the streets.

The advertisement, which appeared in The Guardian yesterday, made a direct appeal for financial help.

It was running on the same day as the Government-backed Chewing Gum Action Group held a conference on the issue.

Alan Bradley, cabinet member for street environment at Westminster Council, said a major public education campaign was needed to overcome the problem.

He said Westminster spent £100,000 a year on cleaning up gum.

"If Wrigley were to set aside a penny on every pack of gum sold in the UK, this would provide £9m a year to help with this problem," he said.

"It is time the manufacturer and the people who throw this mess on to the ground take responsibility for their actions. It is time to make the polluters pay."