Ref. 26261-36AN EXTRA £100,000 has been set aside to give Swindon town centre an early Spring clean.

The money, which has been released from Swindon Council reserves, is being added to the £1.8m the authority already spends every year on cleaning the town.

The council hopes it will make the town centre more attractive to businesses and visitors.

The Spruce up Swindon campaign is the result of feedback from residents who identified clean streets as a something they would like to see in the renaissance of the town.

Recent consultation conducted by the New Swindon Company the body charged with regeneration of Swindon showed that clean streets was one of the things that mattered most.

NSC chairman Peter Andrews said: "We talked to the council about some of the suggestions for quick improvement and I think this immediate response is an indication of their commitment to regenerating the town centre."

The first phase of Spruce up Swindon is already under way.

While the townsfolk sleep, steam-cleaning jet washers are working in the town centre trying to remove the blight of chewing gum and graffiti.

In Swindon town centre yesterday the council demonstrated how the machines cleaned up chewing gum by subjecting it to a jet of high-pressure water with a temperature of up to 140F, melting it from the road.

It can be a slow process it took two machines two nights to clean The Parade and Canal Walk.

The machine can also be used to clean graffiti from walls.

Spruce up Swindon is the first time the council has undertaken such an intense clean up of chewing gum and follows calls last month by mayor Derek Benfield (Lab, Covingham and Nythe) to do something about the scourge of gum, which he said was worse than litter.

He also called for an investigation to see what could be done in then future to prevent the streets being littered with gum.

To date the council has not spent anything on specifically removing chewing gum, but other councils such as Woking Borough Council and Aberdeen City Council spend thousands of pounds each year blasting gum off the streets with specialist high-powered equipment.

Now the council is using this technology to bring a sparkle to the borough's main shopping areas.

The extra £100,000 will also pay for the town centre to be cleaned four times a day, twice as much as before. The town's approach roads will also be tidied up.

The funding is expected to last until the end of March next year. Chief executive of Swindon Initiative, Barry Lingard, said: "This is a good start and is very encouraging. So far it's had a great effect on the area. We must keep the momentum going and ask residents to help us win the campaign by using litter bins."

Fionuala Foley (Con, Old Town and Lawns) and the council's lead member for Swindon Services, said: "This is a great initiative that will benefit the whole community as well as people visiting the borough. I hope we'll have the support of local people to help keep recently cleaned areas free of litter and chewing gum."