A warning has been issued by ministers to councils across Lincolnshire about excessive use of spying tactics to investigate minor crimes.

The move comes only weeks after the Echo revealed how surveillance powers designed to tackle terrorism have been used by local councils in Lincolnshire more than 150 times to deal with minor crimes.

A letter sent to all chief executives yesterday reminds councils that use of surveillance powers to deal with offences such as dog fouling and littering is not appropriate.

The City of Lincoln Council rarely uses the powers and tries to limit covert surveillance to serious offences.

Enforcement Officer for the City of Lincoln Council Tony Garner said: "The City of Lincoln Council does not routinely use covert cameras to monitor the behaviour of people in the city."

Details disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act showed that Lincolnshire County Council, West Lindsey District Council and East Lindsey District Council have used the powers 151 times in the past five years.

East Lindsey District Council has used the RIPA powers 24 times to spy on offences including anti-social behaviour, benefit fraud, planning enforcement, environmental protection and waste enforcement.

This figure dropped dramatically in the last year because of new working practices.

Lincolnshire County Council has used the measures 50 times in the last five years and West Lindsey District Council 77 times to investigate noise nuisance, dog fouling, fly-tipping, anti-social behaviour, benefit fraud, licensing, internal fraud and illegal driving.

West Lindsey has since limited its use of covert surveillance to fly tipping.

For more on the warning to councils about spy tactics, see Saturday's Echo.