LITTER bugs who spit chewing gum on the pavement face being caught out on CCTV and issued with on-the-spot fines.

And council bosses keen to protect the multi-million-pound regeneration of Blackburn town centre may also encourage people to keep the streets tidy by sticking their gum on pictures of politicians and unpopular celebrities.

New town centre rangers are to be used to educate youngsters and shoppers to keep gum in their mouths or in the bin.

The rangers, who start work in the spring, will also be spotting people who spit out gum and issue litter fines of up to £50 to people who drop rubbish. CCTV evidence will be available to back up claims that go to court if people initially deny the offence.

And the council has revealed it is monitoring a scheme in Bournemouth where pictures of disgraced peer Lord Archer, Sadam Hussein and Jeremy Beadle have been hung on lamp-posts with people encouraged to stick their gum on them instead.

Staff monitoring fixed CCTV cameras could spot someone spitting it out and then alert rangers if they are near to the scene of the 'crime.'

The moves were revealed after councillors expressed concern that gum and litter could wreck regeneration projects, such as the multi-million pound redevelopment of Church Street and Darwen Street.

The council spends £1million a year on cleaning the streets, a chunk of which is used to hire contractors to get rid of gum.

Coun. Yusuf Jan-Virmani, a member of the community and personal overview and scrutiny committee, said: "We need to clamp down on people spitting out chewing gum on the floor and people dropping litter.

"They do it because they don't think they will be caught. We need to use CCTV to catch them and have staff there to issue fines. As soon as people see fines as being issued, then they will think twice."

One of the freedoms the council earned for being one of the best-performing in the country could be being allowed to keep fines generated by litter-dropping.

Coun Mohammed Khan, executive member for housing and neighbourhood services said: "Blackburn with Darwen Council spends £993,800 on street cleansing across the borough.

"We have employed specialist contractors to tackle the problem of chewing gum and hope to include its removal as part of a forthcoming graffiti removal programme.

"Education is the key, however, so the use of rangers should have an impact. Part of their role will be to educate people about the problems caused by discarded gum and if necessary issue fines to people spotted dropping it."

Coun Ashley Whalley, chairman of the committee, said: "It is important our town centres make the right impression straight away.

"Gum on the pavement does not help. It is a problem everywhere but that does not mean we should be tackling it."

Ronnie O'Keeffe, president of Blackburn's Chamber of Trade, said: "There is no point spending millions on improving the town if the right enforcement isn't in place to keep it looking nice."

A spokesman for the housing and neighbourhoods department at the council added that the council was monitoring the success of the scheme in Bournemouth where pictures were put up around the town for people to stick their gum on.

Coun Bob Chapman, Bournemouth Council leader, said: "The initiative has done a wonderful job of raising the profile of gum litter in our town."