POLICE and council officers have set up 24-hour patrols to clamp down on people dropping litter.

Officers from County Durham police have teamed up with Sedgefield Borough Council to stamp out littering around schools in Shildon and Newton Aycliffe.

The partnership will mean that police and environmental officers will patrol the streets around Sunnydale Comprehensive School, in Shildon, and Woodham Comprehensive School, in Newton Aycliffe.

The action follows repeated complaints from traders, parents, local residents and teachers, who say that pupils are mainly responsible for the litter.

Sedgefield Borough Council has installed extra litter bins on school routes in an attempt to solve the problem, but local residents and traders say the problem has increased rather than been reduced.

The council has said it will fine anyone caught dropping litter, and the parents and teachers of pupils caught dropping litter will be told of the offence by letter.

Andrew Bailey, environmental enforcement officer for Sedgefield council, said the initiative would punish persistent offenders.

He said: "We have teamed up with the police to clamp down on persistent litter droppers. We will be patrolling the areas we have targeted and anyone, no matter what age, will be punished if they continue to offend.

"I'll be out and about, any hour of the day, with police patrol cars checking for anyone dropping litter and we will come down hard on anyone we feel is persistently offending.

"They may face a £25 fixed penalty, which we can slap straight on them. The biggest culprits are the children leaving school. If we catch them we will speak to parents and teachers about their behaviour. It will not be a laughing matter."

The Kick the Litter Bug scheme will be extended if it is successful. The council and police are already looking at other schools which could also be targeted.

Local businesses are supporting the scheme by displaying posters and rewarding those pupils who lead by example.

Mr Bailey said: This is not a revenue earner, but a proven and effective means of reducing this anti-social offence