Oxford City Council unveiled its new £43,000 state-of-the-art street-cleaning vehicle - its latest weapon in the fight against litter and graffiti.

The vehicle, the size of a small van, enables sweeping and washing to take place simultaneously for the first time.

Launching the new-styled cleaner in Cornmarket Street, city councillor Mary Clarkson, executive member for the environment, said: "I'm delighted to launch this new equipment. It will make a huge difference to the effectiveness of our street-cleansing programme and will benefit all the residents of Oxford, as well as creating a better impression for visitors."

Because the vehicles do two operations at once, time is saved, allowing for city centre areas to be cleaned more often - at least twice a week. Until now, streets would be swept and then hosed manually.

Ms Clarkson said that the new vehicles would also help the council in its campaign to clean the streets of discarded chewing gum.

The streets to initially benefit from extra cleaning will be Cornmarket, Queen Street, St Aldate's, High Street, Broad Street and George Street.

This will gradually be expanded to take in parts of Headington and Summertown.

The city centre has been chosen for the initial blitz because those streets are most affected by litter, said city council spokesman David Penney.

The vehicle is equipped with a high-pressure spray on the roof, enabling chewing gum to be removed without special attention.

The cost of the vehicle was allowed for in the last budget.