A new team will be patrolling North Somerset to crack down on littering and dog fouling.

The team will be able to issue £75 fixed penalty notices to anyone seen littering, not picking up after their dogs and carrying out antisocial behaviour.

Fines will also apply to anyone seen breaching orders on land where dogs are excluded or required to be kept on leads.

North Somerset Council has entered into a 12-month contract with Local Authority Support to provide the service, after 90 per cent of respondents in the Your Neighbourhood consultation said they wanted to see more action against dog fouling, and 77 per cent called for on-the-spot fines for littering.

More: Council urges people to protect open spaces after rise in littering and vandalism.

Cllr Mike Solomon, the authority's executive member for environmental services, said: "Environmental crime and antisocial behaviour have a detrimental effect on our communities and local area.

"Working with LA Support allows us to build on the great work our teams are already doing and take a more robust approach to enforcing our public space protection orders (PSPOs). We hope this approach will deter people from offending in the first place and lead to North Somerset being a cleaner, greener place to visit, live and work".

PSPOs are used to protect public spaces from antisocial behaviour. Breaching a PSPO is a criminal offence and offenders can be fined.

John Roberts from LA Support said: "We're extremely grateful to North Somerset Council for placing their faith in us to deliver this service and we will carry out our patrols in a transparent and proportionate manner.

"We will do all in our power to address the antisocial behaviour which manifests itself in a small section of the community and visitors who continue to blight the landscape by dropping and leaving litter and failing to remove dog faeces."

The council has installed extra bins in litter hotspots and is recruiting additional crews to empty bins and carry out cleaning services seven days a week, and into the evenings.

Cllr Solomon added: "I would also like to acknowledge all the wonderful work the many volunteers do in our area picking up other people's litter to keep North Somerset clean."