Councillors chew over gum wall possibility

Youngsters suggest place to ditch gum be built

A CHEWING gum wall could be the solution to a sticky situation in Royston.

The walls are used as a place where people can stick their discarded chewing and bubble gum, and youngsters in the town have suggested that one should be built to cut down on the amount of gum which is discarded on Royston’s streets and playgrounds.

Town councillor Lindsay Davidson told a meeting of North Herts district council’s Royston area committee that chewing gum walls had made a difference in other areas.

She said: “It could be a god-send for the street cleaners and I thought the suggestion was quite good. It would need to be investigated in more detail because the walls are not nice to look at, but I think we should keep an open mind.”

Cllr Davidson, who does a lot of work with young people’s groups in Royston, was giving a report to the committee on youth activities in the last 12 months. She said that there was also considerable support amongst young people for a grafitti wall, and that they would like to see better play facilities in Priory Memorial Gardens.

“It’s an ongoing problem that there is not enough play equipment for the older children,” she said. “The big slide had to be taken down and it has been replaced with a similar structure.”

However it was reported that a youth shelter built in Priory Memorial Gardens has proved very popular.

The committee agreed to investigate the cost and feasibility of chewing gum and grafitti walls.

Cllr Howard Marshall said: “I’m very concerned about a chewing gum wall. They are unsightly and we will need to get feedback and approval before we agree to anything otherwise there could be big trouble.”

And Cllr Fiona Hill said: “Grafitti walls do solve problems in some areas but we need to know how much of a problem we actually have in Royston.”