Brand new paving slabs installed just days ago have already been covered with red spit stains from tobacco chewers. 

A new stretch of pavement in Wembley High Road was completed by Brent Council in early December as part of its wider £3.5 million street improvement plan. 

It is already blighted by stains from paan users, a practice popular in parts of the borough and South Asia, where a tobacco leaf-based mixture is chewed and spat out. 

The council has tried to tackle the issue of paan spitting in Wembley by threatening to fine those caught up to £100.

Read more: Campaign to tackle paan spitting

Local residents said the campaign “clearly isn’t working” and that the situation is “embarrassing” given the recent works. 

Ex-local councillor Paul Lorber said: “The council have put these new slabs in to meet their own design guide but they should have known Wembley High Road has a notorious paan spitting problem. 

“The red stain on the pale grey hits you straight in the eye – it’s an unsightly mess.”

He said it was even more nonsensical given that relatively new, “perfectly good pavement” that was also a darker shade had been ripped up to make way for the council’s slabs.

Read more: Spitters could be hit with £100 fines

Mr Lorber said he welcomes the “much needed” improvements in Wembley but suggested the council’s approach had been wasteful. 

He said: “They’ve ripped up lots of things when they didn’t need to. I think they’ve wasted around £1 million and then they wonder why residents get annoyed when they say they don’t have any money.”

Mr Lorber also criticised the fact the council chose to remove spray painted signs as a warning to paan spitters as part of the improvement works. 

He said: “What was the point of doing that if you were just going to get rid of it? It’s another waste of time and effort.”

Brent Council has been contacted for comment.