Here we go again! More ideas on how to get rid of the chewing gum -- all of them useless.

The powers that be are still going round in ever decreasing circles.

I raised the issue of chewing gum at the city council's south east area committee in 2003, and won the support of councillors in dealing with this problem.

I gave them names of towns and cities that had dealt successfully with the problem by imposing on-the-spot fines.

I believe a delegation went to Southampton, at some cost to the taxpayer, to see how it administered fines.

Here we are, almost two years down the road, and still nothing has been done.

Suddenly, there seems to be a rash of councillors from all parties throwing in weird and wonderful ideas on how the problem should be solved.

For someone to suggest that a levy should be placed on the people who manufacture or sell chewing gum is nothing short of fantasy.

If this really is the agreed solution from the council, it should also introduce a levy on oil companies for the pollution, on car manufacturers for congestion -- the list could go on.

How much longer do we in Oxford have to wait for someone with enough gumption, if you'll pardon the expression, to get on with solving this problem once and for all?

I and many others I talk to can see that people who deposit chewing gum on the streets and pavements are irresponsible and should be made to pay for the mess to be cleaned up.

Let us for once see some real action instead of more lengthy discussions that will inevitably end up gathering dust on someone's shelf, like all the ideas that were put to them on September 9, 2003.

No doubt there will be many excuses brought forward in their defence. Bob Avery, Vice-chairman, Blackbird Leys Parish Council, Oxford